Isabella the promised neverland hair down
First haircut conundrum...
2023.06.04 00:13 valkyriejae First haircut conundrum...
My son is 21m and has never had a haircut. His hair is very fine and grows slowly, but the longest parts are down to his shoulders. It's not in his eyes yet though, and he's not tenderheaded so combing isn't a problem.
Some of my in laws have been making comments about it for months now, and even my husband occasionally brings it up. They all think he's overdue and should have it shorter.
Here's the thing, I don't object to him getting a haircut in theory, but in practice it's hard for me to bring myself to do it. Partly because I have some issues from my own childhood with haircuts and body autonomy, partly because I haven't been to a hairdresser in 13 years (I have long hair for religious reasons and my godmother or husband does any trims), and partly because I just like him having longer hair (he's platinum blond with adorable curls and looks bald/much younger when it's short).
The in laws are pushing for sooner because of heteronormative ideas, the husband wants it short because he doesn't like how messy our son's hair looks when it's not been freshly combed and he keeps his quite short. Personally, I don't think there's any need to cut it until it becomes a problem in some way (ie trimming bangs if they're in his eyes, or keeping it shorter if he starts to object to combing it, etc).
Thoughts? Experiences? When did you first cut your kid's hair and why?
submitted by valkyriejae to toddlers [link] [comments]
Some of my in laws have been making comments about it for months now, and even my husband occasionally brings it up. They all think he's overdue and should have it shorter.
Here's the thing, I don't object to him getting a haircut in theory, but in practice it's hard for me to bring myself to do it. Partly because I have some issues from my own childhood with haircuts and body autonomy, partly because I haven't been to a hairdresser in 13 years (I have long hair for religious reasons and my godmother or husband does any trims), and partly because I just like him having longer hair (he's platinum blond with adorable curls and looks bald/much younger when it's short).
The in laws are pushing for sooner because of heteronormative ideas, the husband wants it short because he doesn't like how messy our son's hair looks when it's not been freshly combed and he keeps his quite short. Personally, I don't think there's any need to cut it until it becomes a problem in some way (ie trimming bangs if they're in his eyes, or keeping it shorter if he starts to object to combing it, etc).
Thoughts? Experiences? When did you first cut your kid's hair and why?
2023.06.04 00:13 SwagiYo Turning my Valet key into a Master key.
 | Ever since I bought my 92' Miata, i haven't been able to lock the boot, center console and glovebox. submitted by SwagiYo to Miata [link] [comments] At first i thought it had gotten new lock cylinders and key at some point, but after looking through the user manual i noticed Miata's came with a master and a valet key, the valet key was a key you'd give to the valet driver, and restricting them to only use the door locks and ignition, keeping your hair dryers safe from theft. So, i decided to take the lock for the center console apart, and see what the keying had to be so i could get a key made, turns out, i just had to file down the key a bit and it works! Pro tip, as you can see in the photos, you can change one side of key, in case you screw up or it otherwise doesn't work, you still have a working key, as wafer locks only use one side per wafer to set the lock, (in this case it alternates side for each wafer.) You can then use this double keyed key to check if it works for all locks. And there ya go, now you can keep your stuff safe with the top down. |
2023.06.04 00:10 todddesign Seeking advice: How to keep my manbun intact while running?
I come to you today seeking some advice on a minor but recurring issue I've been facing. Whenever I go for a run, my man bun tends to loosen up and lose its perfect knot. I'm sure some of you have experienced this frustration too, so I thought this would be the ideal place to ask for guidance.
I've been rocking the man bun for a while now, and I love how it completes my look and keeps my hair out of my face during workouts. However, maintaining its integrity while engaging in physical activities like running has proven to be a bit challenging. It also annoyingly bounces up and down as I run.
So, my fellow man bun experts, do you have any tips or tricks to share on how to run with a man bun without the knot losing its hold? How can I ensure that my bun stays secure throughout my entire run?
Have you discovered any specific hairstyles or techniques that effectively keep your man bun secure and minimize bouncing while running?
Are there any specialized hair ties, bands, or accessories that you find particularly helpful in preventing bouncing and maintaining the integrity of your man bun during intense physical activities?
I'd love to hear about your experiences and any hacks you've discovered to tackle this issue head-on.
submitted by todddesign to Manbunsandmanes [link] [comments]
I've been rocking the man bun for a while now, and I love how it completes my look and keeps my hair out of my face during workouts. However, maintaining its integrity while engaging in physical activities like running has proven to be a bit challenging. It also annoyingly bounces up and down as I run.
So, my fellow man bun experts, do you have any tips or tricks to share on how to run with a man bun without the knot losing its hold? How can I ensure that my bun stays secure throughout my entire run?
Have you discovered any specific hairstyles or techniques that effectively keep your man bun secure and minimize bouncing while running?
Are there any specialized hair ties, bands, or accessories that you find particularly helpful in preventing bouncing and maintaining the integrity of your man bun during intense physical activities?
I'd love to hear about your experiences and any hacks you've discovered to tackle this issue head-on.
2023.06.04 00:08 eiramired Ignite the Ashes Chapter 5 - Smoke
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Chapter 5 - Smoke
Northern Facility, Vanstead Dukedom of Augustein, Year 990
The building fell to pieces in a spiraling wave. From its center, the air heated until it burned to touch and stung to breathe. Fires streaked outwards, radiating like sunlight, as web-like cracks expanded throughout what was once solid walls. Then, one by one, the layers of stone fell apart. Scattered debris knocked into neighboring rooms, and more hallways pancaked beneath a growing cloud of grey smoke.
From the outside, it looked like a sudden explosion, a single attack that rendered a solid silhouette into scattered pieces. Onlookers would say they remembered hearing screams, some even recalling writhing shadows within the smoke. Still others would swear they caught fleeting glimpses of an Aberration, the creature they believed responsible for the attack. Those who believed the destruction came from within would dispute this claim, suggesting that any perpetrator would’ve died amidst the flames and rubble.
The facility, once merely an abandoned, distant old building that few travelers would give a second glance, became the talk of the town in its ruins.
It was only when the bodies were found in the aftermath that the rampant speculation quieted to whispered suggestions. No one was willing to raise their voices amidst the dead, and though the identities of the victims were unknown, that day would still be permanently marked in the town’s history as a great tragedy.
—
Winrow, Vanstead Dukedom of Augustein, Year 990
Joan slammed the drink down on the counter, and the sound rang throughout the little tavern. A few other clients glanced her way, pausing their murmured conversations. At this hour of the day, when the sun was only just beginning to lower from its peak, the tavern was still relatively empty. Once night fell, Joan knew tired workers getting off their shifts would stop by after dinner, and the place would grow rowdy with laughter.
Seated on the stool beside her, Leila frowned. She was wearing her watchman’s uniform, though she’d rolled up her sleeves. Her hands were still adorned with their usual dark gloves. In all the years Joan had known the woman, she’d never seen her take those gloves off. It was rare enough to see her without her uniform, even on days off like this one.
A watchman is never off duty, Leila had said once. Joan hadn’t been able to argue against that.
“Bad morning?” Leila asked. Joan sighed.
“You could say that,” she muttered. She picked up her glass and took a deep gulp, enjoying the bitter stinging in her throat. Leila watched her carefully.
“...Did the girl wake up?”
Joan winced and shook her head. “Not yet,” she said, voice quiet. She stared down at the uneven wooden grains of the counter, absentmindedly tracing their swirling patterns with her eyes.
Joan hadn’t known what to expect when she’d seen the smoke. It was rare enough for her to leave Winrow these days, but Leila had asked her to head to Magrath to purchase ore for the watchmen. She typically went herself, but she was busy, the woman had said apologetically. Joan was the only one besides her in the village with a high enough license to purchase the amount of ore they would need for training and scouting. Joan hadn’t been too keen on it at first, but she’d reluctantly agreed. It wasn’t Leila’s fault that the Sovereign had put a hold on temporary ore purchase permits, after all, and she’d known the woman for many decades. And so, Joan had left Winrow and made the trip to Magreth, her old court magician license nestled in her pouch beside the heavy weight of the coins Leila had provided for the purchases.
The trip took longer than expected, but she miraculously hadn’t run into any Aberrations along the way or on the road back. Instead, when she was less than an hour away from Winrow, Joan had seen clouds of smoke billowing into the sky. Instinct had taken over, and she’d ran in the direction of the smoke without thinking.
She hadn’t expected to find a pile of ruins where an old abandoned building had once stood. A crowd had gathered around, whispering and pointing at the still glowing embers lighting up the gaps between sharp debris and charred grass. Her old training had taken hold, and Joan had commanded the onlookers to search for survivors.
A few hours later, they’d found nothing but charred bodies. Her stomach roiled when she saw how small some of them were. There had been children there, trapped within those walls, when the entire building had collapsed.
An old rumor had risen up in her memory, but she’d ignored it in favor of focusing on the immediate task at hand. One of the onlookers was sent to bring the watchmen, and until then Joan sat and waited.
She wasn’t sure what compelled her to go back to the ruins and search again, some hours later. Perhaps it was the growing unease, perhaps she’d simply needed to do something. She was glad she did, otherwise she would’ve missed the motionless figure trapped beneath a pile of debris whose breaths were shallow, but distinctly alive.
“How bad are the injuries?”
Joan looked back up at Leila. She frowned, lips drawn in a thin line.
“Bad,” she said. Joan shook her head. “It’s a miracle she survived. I think the rubble might’ve protected her from the flames. Most of the wounds were from being crushed.”
Leila winced in sympathy. “Poor girl,” she muttered.
Joan grunted in acknowledgement, gaze still distant. Leila frowned at her, furrowing her brows.
“Is there something else?”
Joan stared into her drink, swirling the liquid around in one hand. She tipped it back and took a slower sip this time before setting the glass back down.
“...Do you remember those old rumors, back when the coup happened?”
Leila squinted her eyes like she always did when she was thinking. “Which ones? There was an awful lot of stuff that came out,” she remarked in a half-hearted attempt at a joke. Joan, however, remained somber.
“The experiments in northern Vanstead,” she said.
Leila’s eyes widened before the watchman’s expression morphed into a more serious one. She gripped her own cup but made no move to drink, instead simply tightening her fingers around the glass. The woman exhaled.
“I thought it was propaganda,” she muttered.
Joan shook her head. “I did too,” she admitted. “But, Leila, those scars… I can’t think of any other way to explain them. Wounds like that don’t just happen.”
Leila was quiet, eyes flickering with disbelief that slowly settled into weary acceptance. The two of them had known each other long enough for Leila to know that Joan wouldn’t be mistaken about something like this.
Joan ran a hand through her hair, tugging on some of the greying strands. “I can’t believe I ever supported the Raymoths,” she muttered.
Leila patted her back. “It’s not your fault. All of us did, including me.”
“It’s different. I was a Rose.”
“You were a doctor.”
“A doctor who healed the wrong people, clearly.”
Leila sighed and raised her drink. “It’s over now, at least,” she muttered.
Joan nodded in agreement. She held up her glass as well, and the two women wordlessly clinked their glasses together before taking long sips. They sat in silence afterwards. Around them, a few more patrons were beginning to filter into the tavern as the sun slid closer to the horizon. The noise around them grew.
Finally, without turning, Leila asked, “How much magic do you have left?”
Joan stared down at her bare hands. Wrinkles were visible on the looser skin, remnants of the passing years. It still felt odd sometimes, to not look down and see those crisp white gloves she’d worn for so long. She’d gotten another pair when she came back for when she had to use magic, ones made of thick brown cloth, but they didn’t have the same feeling.
“Enough,” Joan answered simply.
Leila’s eyes flickered over to her. She hesitated. “If you’d like, I wouldn’t mind giving you some ore. The watchmen don’t need much.”
Joan chuckled. “I don’t think a sergeant should be saying that in public.” She shook her head. “I’d rather not go to court over unauthorized ore usage.” She was already lucky enough to have retired before the coup, or she probably would’ve been killed with the other old Roses who had served the Raymoths. She wasn’t keen on testing fate again.
Leila snorted as well, but her laughter soon died down into something more somber.
“Be careful, okay?” she said. Her voice lowered, and she spoke with increased urgency. “I’m serious, you know. If your reserves get close to a third, tell me.”
Joan smiled thinly.
“I will.”
—
The house was dark when Joan entered. She fumbled around for the oil lamp she always kept by the door, then made her usual rounds of lighting the candles within the small home until the space was filled with a soft, warm glow. Joan set the oil lamp down and sighed, taking a moment to adjust to the silence. She’d ended up staying at the tavern longer than expected, and it had, as expected, grown rather loud. In the past she would’ve joined in on the rowdiness, but now she just found herself weary. She shook her head, wondering if this was what aging felt like.
Joan turned and crept across the creaking floorboards until she reached a room situated near the end of the hallway. Inhaling, she slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
Three cots had been crammed into the space, all of their sheets folded neatly and kept clean despite two of them not seeing use in a long time. A light breeze fluttered in from the open window, giving the space a slight chill that made her shiver. The curtains billowed in the wind, and Joan stepped over to close the window.
Once she was done, she turned around to stare down at the one occupied cot. Lying beneath the blankets, a girl slept so still that she could easily be mistaken for a corpse. Joan frowned and took a seat on a small stool set beside the head of the bed.
Maybe “girl” wasn’t accurate. On closer inspection, she was probably a young adult, though her malnourished limbs and closed eyes made her look much younger. Her hands were folded over the blankets, and between the heavy bandages and wrappings, Joan could make out hints of scars beneath. She closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling. Finally, the woman opened her eyes again and raised her hands above the still form.
A soft mauve light glowed from the center of her palm. Swirling, delicate markings climbed up her arms as numbers appeared on the back of her hands. It still felt strange to see them instead of simply sensing them like she had when she’d worn the gloves every day.
FORM MAJOR
Magic Reserves: 39,876 → 39,864 / 118,604
Maximum Output: 12
Variability: 9
The light enveloped the unconscious figure, surrounding her in a soft glow. Joan closed her eyes, ignoring the immediate exhaustion that began every time she used magic these days. She forced herself to focus on the wounds.
In the back of her mind, she muttered a silent apology to Leila. But no matter what the other woman said, she had known the second she’d seen those scars that there was nothing she wouldn’t do to ensure the girl in front of her woke up again.
It was the least she could do.
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submitted by eiramired to HFY [link] [comments]
Chapter 5 - Smoke
Northern Facility, Vanstead Dukedom of Augustein, Year 990
The building fell to pieces in a spiraling wave. From its center, the air heated until it burned to touch and stung to breathe. Fires streaked outwards, radiating like sunlight, as web-like cracks expanded throughout what was once solid walls. Then, one by one, the layers of stone fell apart. Scattered debris knocked into neighboring rooms, and more hallways pancaked beneath a growing cloud of grey smoke.
From the outside, it looked like a sudden explosion, a single attack that rendered a solid silhouette into scattered pieces. Onlookers would say they remembered hearing screams, some even recalling writhing shadows within the smoke. Still others would swear they caught fleeting glimpses of an Aberration, the creature they believed responsible for the attack. Those who believed the destruction came from within would dispute this claim, suggesting that any perpetrator would’ve died amidst the flames and rubble.
The facility, once merely an abandoned, distant old building that few travelers would give a second glance, became the talk of the town in its ruins.
It was only when the bodies were found in the aftermath that the rampant speculation quieted to whispered suggestions. No one was willing to raise their voices amidst the dead, and though the identities of the victims were unknown, that day would still be permanently marked in the town’s history as a great tragedy.
—
Winrow, Vanstead Dukedom of Augustein, Year 990
Joan slammed the drink down on the counter, and the sound rang throughout the little tavern. A few other clients glanced her way, pausing their murmured conversations. At this hour of the day, when the sun was only just beginning to lower from its peak, the tavern was still relatively empty. Once night fell, Joan knew tired workers getting off their shifts would stop by after dinner, and the place would grow rowdy with laughter.
Seated on the stool beside her, Leila frowned. She was wearing her watchman’s uniform, though she’d rolled up her sleeves. Her hands were still adorned with their usual dark gloves. In all the years Joan had known the woman, she’d never seen her take those gloves off. It was rare enough to see her without her uniform, even on days off like this one.
A watchman is never off duty, Leila had said once. Joan hadn’t been able to argue against that.
“Bad morning?” Leila asked. Joan sighed.
“You could say that,” she muttered. She picked up her glass and took a deep gulp, enjoying the bitter stinging in her throat. Leila watched her carefully.
“...Did the girl wake up?”
Joan winced and shook her head. “Not yet,” she said, voice quiet. She stared down at the uneven wooden grains of the counter, absentmindedly tracing their swirling patterns with her eyes.
Joan hadn’t known what to expect when she’d seen the smoke. It was rare enough for her to leave Winrow these days, but Leila had asked her to head to Magrath to purchase ore for the watchmen. She typically went herself, but she was busy, the woman had said apologetically. Joan was the only one besides her in the village with a high enough license to purchase the amount of ore they would need for training and scouting. Joan hadn’t been too keen on it at first, but she’d reluctantly agreed. It wasn’t Leila’s fault that the Sovereign had put a hold on temporary ore purchase permits, after all, and she’d known the woman for many decades. And so, Joan had left Winrow and made the trip to Magreth, her old court magician license nestled in her pouch beside the heavy weight of the coins Leila had provided for the purchases.
The trip took longer than expected, but she miraculously hadn’t run into any Aberrations along the way or on the road back. Instead, when she was less than an hour away from Winrow, Joan had seen clouds of smoke billowing into the sky. Instinct had taken over, and she’d ran in the direction of the smoke without thinking.
She hadn’t expected to find a pile of ruins where an old abandoned building had once stood. A crowd had gathered around, whispering and pointing at the still glowing embers lighting up the gaps between sharp debris and charred grass. Her old training had taken hold, and Joan had commanded the onlookers to search for survivors.
A few hours later, they’d found nothing but charred bodies. Her stomach roiled when she saw how small some of them were. There had been children there, trapped within those walls, when the entire building had collapsed.
An old rumor had risen up in her memory, but she’d ignored it in favor of focusing on the immediate task at hand. One of the onlookers was sent to bring the watchmen, and until then Joan sat and waited.
She wasn’t sure what compelled her to go back to the ruins and search again, some hours later. Perhaps it was the growing unease, perhaps she’d simply needed to do something. She was glad she did, otherwise she would’ve missed the motionless figure trapped beneath a pile of debris whose breaths were shallow, but distinctly alive.
“How bad are the injuries?”
Joan looked back up at Leila. She frowned, lips drawn in a thin line.
“Bad,” she said. Joan shook her head. “It’s a miracle she survived. I think the rubble might’ve protected her from the flames. Most of the wounds were from being crushed.”
Leila winced in sympathy. “Poor girl,” she muttered.
Joan grunted in acknowledgement, gaze still distant. Leila frowned at her, furrowing her brows.
“Is there something else?”
Joan stared into her drink, swirling the liquid around in one hand. She tipped it back and took a slower sip this time before setting the glass back down.
“...Do you remember those old rumors, back when the coup happened?”
Leila squinted her eyes like she always did when she was thinking. “Which ones? There was an awful lot of stuff that came out,” she remarked in a half-hearted attempt at a joke. Joan, however, remained somber.
“The experiments in northern Vanstead,” she said.
Leila’s eyes widened before the watchman’s expression morphed into a more serious one. She gripped her own cup but made no move to drink, instead simply tightening her fingers around the glass. The woman exhaled.
“I thought it was propaganda,” she muttered.
Joan shook her head. “I did too,” she admitted. “But, Leila, those scars… I can’t think of any other way to explain them. Wounds like that don’t just happen.”
Leila was quiet, eyes flickering with disbelief that slowly settled into weary acceptance. The two of them had known each other long enough for Leila to know that Joan wouldn’t be mistaken about something like this.
Joan ran a hand through her hair, tugging on some of the greying strands. “I can’t believe I ever supported the Raymoths,” she muttered.
Leila patted her back. “It’s not your fault. All of us did, including me.”
“It’s different. I was a Rose.”
“You were a doctor.”
“A doctor who healed the wrong people, clearly.”
Leila sighed and raised her drink. “It’s over now, at least,” she muttered.
Joan nodded in agreement. She held up her glass as well, and the two women wordlessly clinked their glasses together before taking long sips. They sat in silence afterwards. Around them, a few more patrons were beginning to filter into the tavern as the sun slid closer to the horizon. The noise around them grew.
Finally, without turning, Leila asked, “How much magic do you have left?”
Joan stared down at her bare hands. Wrinkles were visible on the looser skin, remnants of the passing years. It still felt odd sometimes, to not look down and see those crisp white gloves she’d worn for so long. She’d gotten another pair when she came back for when she had to use magic, ones made of thick brown cloth, but they didn’t have the same feeling.
“Enough,” Joan answered simply.
Leila’s eyes flickered over to her. She hesitated. “If you’d like, I wouldn’t mind giving you some ore. The watchmen don’t need much.”
Joan chuckled. “I don’t think a sergeant should be saying that in public.” She shook her head. “I’d rather not go to court over unauthorized ore usage.” She was already lucky enough to have retired before the coup, or she probably would’ve been killed with the other old Roses who had served the Raymoths. She wasn’t keen on testing fate again.
Leila snorted as well, but her laughter soon died down into something more somber.
“Be careful, okay?” she said. Her voice lowered, and she spoke with increased urgency. “I’m serious, you know. If your reserves get close to a third, tell me.”
Joan smiled thinly.
“I will.”
—
The house was dark when Joan entered. She fumbled around for the oil lamp she always kept by the door, then made her usual rounds of lighting the candles within the small home until the space was filled with a soft, warm glow. Joan set the oil lamp down and sighed, taking a moment to adjust to the silence. She’d ended up staying at the tavern longer than expected, and it had, as expected, grown rather loud. In the past she would’ve joined in on the rowdiness, but now she just found herself weary. She shook her head, wondering if this was what aging felt like.
Joan turned and crept across the creaking floorboards until she reached a room situated near the end of the hallway. Inhaling, she slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
Three cots had been crammed into the space, all of their sheets folded neatly and kept clean despite two of them not seeing use in a long time. A light breeze fluttered in from the open window, giving the space a slight chill that made her shiver. The curtains billowed in the wind, and Joan stepped over to close the window.
Once she was done, she turned around to stare down at the one occupied cot. Lying beneath the blankets, a girl slept so still that she could easily be mistaken for a corpse. Joan frowned and took a seat on a small stool set beside the head of the bed.
Maybe “girl” wasn’t accurate. On closer inspection, she was probably a young adult, though her malnourished limbs and closed eyes made her look much younger. Her hands were folded over the blankets, and between the heavy bandages and wrappings, Joan could make out hints of scars beneath. She closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling. Finally, the woman opened her eyes again and raised her hands above the still form.
A soft mauve light glowed from the center of her palm. Swirling, delicate markings climbed up her arms as numbers appeared on the back of her hands. It still felt strange to see them instead of simply sensing them like she had when she’d worn the gloves every day.
FORM MAJOR
Magic Reserves: 39,876 → 39,864 / 118,604
Maximum Output: 12
Variability: 9
The light enveloped the unconscious figure, surrounding her in a soft glow. Joan closed her eyes, ignoring the immediate exhaustion that began every time she used magic these days. She forced herself to focus on the wounds.
In the back of her mind, she muttered a silent apology to Leila. But no matter what the other woman said, she had known the second she’d seen those scars that there was nothing she wouldn’t do to ensure the girl in front of her woke up again.
It was the least she could do.
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2023.06.04 00:06 JustsomedudeIam Update, 5 months in from a slick bald head. It's still not looking that good. I look like Mr. Spock from star trek, lol. The good news is that my hair stopped growing up, and finally started growing down(except on my double crown) Also, I think the back of my hair looks pretty good now.
 | My double crown hair defying gravity submitted by JustsomedudeIam to FierceFlow [link] [comments] |
2023.06.03 23:58 MonetFreak AITA for dissing my friend (of 28 years)'s friend?
I've (35F) been best friends with a friend I'll call Ally (36F) for over 28 years. We met in elementary school and have been through everything in life together, highs and lows, despite distance between us at times. I make a point to visit at least twice a year, especially now she has two little ones and is married to her high school sweetheart (whom has never forgiven me since I turned down his cousin - that's another story).
Anyway, I visited her last week for a few days. We had a great time. At the time of my visit, they had another friend (21M) I'll call him Calvin, visiting from VT. He is a Calvin Klein underwear model, albeit financially struggling. He has known them for a little over a year. He helps her husband at work and has been used as a model for an advert campaign for his business, modeling clothes and items etc for free.
I got a text yesterday asking if I had accidentally packed her hair straightener that was on the bathroom counter. I said I absolutely didn't, and texted her later that day to see if she found it. She said no. I ended up a bit offended about even being asked. I called her and she didn't answer, text or call back over 6 hours. I sent her a text telling her I haven't straightened my hair more than 4x in 6 years and there's no way it ended in my bag "by accident", I would never take a straightener, let alone anything else, from her home, and to ask the broke model with long hair if he knows anything.
She texted back saying she found it in the hallway closet behind some stuff. But to me it reads like a lie because she initially said she used it and left it on the bathroom counter. Anyway I texted her today saying I apologize for being mean about the model guy, but that she sounded sure it was on the counter then disappeared, as in it definitely disappeared at some point of the model and I being there. She never responded.
This is someone who is near and dear to me for 28 years. I'm concerned she thought I was out of line for calling out Calvin as being the potential lifter and still pissed she'd even take his side, someone she's known for little over a year, over me. For back info, apparently he gets along with her kids really well and they're thinking of asking him to be their godfather, which I find absolutely bathshit crazy.
Am I the asshole for being offended and a bit pissed off she would even imply I'd take something from her home?
TLDR: Friend of 28 years asked if I had mistakenly lifted her hair straightener. I was offended she'd even ask, and said something rude about another guest who was at the house at the same time, and she hasn't responded to my apology upon hearing she "found" it.
submitted by MonetFreak to AmItheAsshole [link] [comments]
Anyway, I visited her last week for a few days. We had a great time. At the time of my visit, they had another friend (21M) I'll call him Calvin, visiting from VT. He is a Calvin Klein underwear model, albeit financially struggling. He has known them for a little over a year. He helps her husband at work and has been used as a model for an advert campaign for his business, modeling clothes and items etc for free.
I got a text yesterday asking if I had accidentally packed her hair straightener that was on the bathroom counter. I said I absolutely didn't, and texted her later that day to see if she found it. She said no. I ended up a bit offended about even being asked. I called her and she didn't answer, text or call back over 6 hours. I sent her a text telling her I haven't straightened my hair more than 4x in 6 years and there's no way it ended in my bag "by accident", I would never take a straightener, let alone anything else, from her home, and to ask the broke model with long hair if he knows anything.
She texted back saying she found it in the hallway closet behind some stuff. But to me it reads like a lie because she initially said she used it and left it on the bathroom counter. Anyway I texted her today saying I apologize for being mean about the model guy, but that she sounded sure it was on the counter then disappeared, as in it definitely disappeared at some point of the model and I being there. She never responded.
This is someone who is near and dear to me for 28 years. I'm concerned she thought I was out of line for calling out Calvin as being the potential lifter and still pissed she'd even take his side, someone she's known for little over a year, over me. For back info, apparently he gets along with her kids really well and they're thinking of asking him to be their godfather, which I find absolutely bathshit crazy.
Am I the asshole for being offended and a bit pissed off she would even imply I'd take something from her home?
TLDR: Friend of 28 years asked if I had mistakenly lifted her hair straightener. I was offended she'd even ask, and said something rude about another guest who was at the house at the same time, and she hasn't responded to my apology upon hearing she "found" it.
2023.06.03 23:57 DrSteelBallz I was banned from r/Alberta for sharing this opinion on Justin Trudeau
Broken Promises: Trudeau made several promises during his campaign that he failed to deliver on. This includes pledges related to electoral reform, Indigenous reconciliation, climate change, and budget deficits. Some Canadians feel let down by these unfulfilled promises and question his trustworthiness.
Ethics Violations: Trudeau has faced allegations of ethical breaches during his time in office. In 2019, he was found to have violated the Conflict of Interest Act in relation to the SNC-Lavalin affair, where he was accused of pressuring his Attorney General to intervene in a criminal case. This raised concerns about his adherence to ethical standards and transparency.
Financial Mismanagement: Trudeau's government has overseen significant increases in government spending and budget deficits. They argue that this can lead to long-term economic challenges and burdens for future generations, eroding trust in his ability to manage Canada's finances responsibly.
Pipeline Controversy: Trudeau's handling of pipeline projects has been a point of contention. Despite presenting himself as an advocate for environmental issues, his government purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, which raised questions about his commitment to climate change goals and the transition to renewable energy.
Lack of Transparency: Trudeau's government has been less than forthcoming with information, particularly regarding contentious issues, leading to a sense of distrust and frustration among citizens.
In this last election, I voted for Rachel Notley. But it seems that supporters of the ANDP under 35 are also advid supporters of Justin Trudeau. This is very alarming.
submitted by DrSteelBallz to NoRulesCalgary [link] [comments]
Ethics Violations: Trudeau has faced allegations of ethical breaches during his time in office. In 2019, he was found to have violated the Conflict of Interest Act in relation to the SNC-Lavalin affair, where he was accused of pressuring his Attorney General to intervene in a criminal case. This raised concerns about his adherence to ethical standards and transparency.
Financial Mismanagement: Trudeau's government has overseen significant increases in government spending and budget deficits. They argue that this can lead to long-term economic challenges and burdens for future generations, eroding trust in his ability to manage Canada's finances responsibly.
Pipeline Controversy: Trudeau's handling of pipeline projects has been a point of contention. Despite presenting himself as an advocate for environmental issues, his government purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, which raised questions about his commitment to climate change goals and the transition to renewable energy.
Lack of Transparency: Trudeau's government has been less than forthcoming with information, particularly regarding contentious issues, leading to a sense of distrust and frustration among citizens.
In this last election, I voted for Rachel Notley. But it seems that supporters of the ANDP under 35 are also advid supporters of Justin Trudeau. This is very alarming.
2023.06.03 23:56 Moncurs_rightboot Season Review 22/23
 | Wow wow wow wow wow. Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming. Ow ow ow ow ow, stop pinching me, OK, I'm obviously not dreaming. submitted by Moncurs_rightboot to COYH [link] [comments] We actually did it. We managed to get promoted through the playoffs. It's absolute madness. I had watched us compete in 6 playoffs, and who would have thought that 7th time is the charm! Before I start you can read the 21/22 season review here from our season where we finished 6th and got dumped out the playoffs by Huddersfield. You can also read the 22/23 season preview here where I predicted a very optimistic top 8 finish. No one could have predicted the season we were about to have. I'm not going to discuss promotion in depth, because it was only a week ago and probably won't sink in until the fixtures are released on June 15th. In case you didn't know, this is what our away end looks like Overview and Pre season thoughtsAs mentioned above, I knew we would manage to keep the momentum going into this season. I just didn't expect us to gain this much momentum. Having finished 6th and on 75 points in the 21/22 season. Everything was kept steady in the off season, we recruited well, and only lost one significant player (discussed below). Throughout the off season though social media was awash with speculation that Luton Town would do a Barnsley (meaning losing in the playoffs and then battling relegation/getting relegated the following season, which Barnsley did in the 21/22 season), this was speculation was further fuelled by the signing of two of Barnsley's relegated front three (more on that later). However, one bright spark in the off season was the lads from the Second Tier Pod who went bold and predicted a solid season for Luton Town, with Ryan predicting 2nd and Justin predicting 3rd. These guys know ball. Nathan Jones was keen to kick on with the squad, and was 110% committed to the cause...Who left, and who did we sign?The most significant outgoing was that of Kal Naismith, who was the fans player of the season in 21/22. The manner in which he joined Bristol City left a sour taste in the mouth of the Hatters, with the club not knowing he had agreed terms, with the Welsh wannabes announcing him a whole 24 hours before Luton Town. Also the fact that he was chatting some boilerplate shite in his introduction interview, about being excited about getting to work with "the best manager in the league". A truly absurd statement that even Stevie Wonder could see was the dumbest thing that anyone could ever say in the history of mankind. Regardless, Hatters were annoyed and concerned, mostly because Kal was a good player, he made that LCB role his own, and was a vital cog in our 21/22 playoff machine, and scored a significant and wonderful goal against Bournemouth that pretty much kickstarted our playoff push after the long covid/midseason break - hey guys, remember covid?Less significant outgoings on the pitch were Peter "I should be starting every game" Kioso (to Rotherham) and Danny Hylton (to Northampton). With Kioso leaving, we were losing depth in the defensive unit, whereas with Danny Hylton, we were losing part of the furniture at the Kenny. Sure Danny had never hit the heights of his League 2 bagsman days after his nasty injury in League 1, but he scored some vital goals in 21/22 - grabbed the point at Bristol City and sealed the win against Derby with a wonderful strike. Also his head of hair is one of the greatest come back stories in modern times. We brought in some numbers in the off season, although as discussed on social media, these players seemed to be "for the future":
How did we do?I write this with a big smirk on my face. Because it still hasn't sunk in.Like the 21/22 season, it was a season of two halves (and two managers), unlike last season whereby there was a covid break, this season we had a conveniently placed World Cup. I always thought Winter World Cups were the greatest idea, and certainly never ever criticised FIFA, The Qatar WC bidding buddies, or the countless executives that have become incredibly wealthy from the previous World Cup who effortlessly and repeatedly moved not only the goal posts but mountains in order to give us what we all wanted, the first World Cup in the Middle East - in the middle of fucking winter. Anyway, I'm veering off topic. I'm not doing a monthly breakdown by the way, you can get that off wikipedia. I'm sure the 10 people who read this will be wildly disappointed. We can break the season down in two ways - Luton under Nathan Jones and Luton under Rob Edwards. I'll do the stats after this overview. Nathan Jones took us almost the whole way to the World Cup break, but he was just itching to move. Our start to the season was mediocre, we were struggling to win games. In fact we didn't win a game until our 5th game of the season against Swansea, with 2 draws and 2 losses to start the season, including the second worst performance of the season against Bristol City, leaving us 23rd in the table. After that we had a mini purple patch, completing the welsh double beating Cardiff and drawing with Sheffield United. Which took us up to 9th in the table. Before throwing the game away against Wigan "prompt wage payment" Athletic. Fortunately we then hit a 7 game unbeaten run, which shot us up to 4th in the table. Which took us into the match against them lot down the road. We were in great form, they were already on their second manager (more on that first manager in a bit), everything was aligned for us to go there and turn them over. But disaster struck, we were utter shit and lost 4 - 0. On the bright side it gave them a high point for the season. Post match, Nathan Jones had plenty of excuses, mentioning stomach bugs, he couldn't fill the bench etc, but the eventual reality was more concerning. We only picked up 1 win from the next 4 games, culminating in an abject display against his former side Stoke, where it all but confirmed that Jones would be leaving the club. This would take us to the end of Nathan Jones' tenure. Jones moved (amicably and with massive compensation) to Southampton - where he wouldn't stay for long, but reports surfaced after his move that Southampton had been in negotiations with him for 5 weeks prior. No surprise he didn't give a shit post match against Watford. Regardless, he moved in in better faith than when he did against Stoke, He left the club in 9th place, and paved the way for Mick Harford to coach for the last game before the World Cup break, a 1 - 1 draw against Rotherham. We entered the World Cup break in 10th place, and it gave us time to pick our manager properly. Nathan Jones stats P20 - W7 - D8 - L5 - GF 22 - GA 21 - Pts 29 - WinP 35% - PpG 1.45 Mick Harford stats P1 - W0 - D1 - L0 - GF 1 - GA 1 - Pts 1 - WinP 0% - PpG 1.0 At the end of last season (I know this narrative has been done to death, but keep with me here). Watford appointed Rob Edwards from Forest Green Rovers, a young up and coming manager, to take over from Roy Hodgson, a legend who got Watford relegated at Selhurst Park, and then had the balls to clap the Crystal Palace fans (as his last season there was behind closed doors), whilst ignoring the Watford fans who had travelled to South London, because they were too far away. This is made even funnier due to the fact that he returned to Palace, and absolutely turned their season around. Anyway, Rob Edwards was the man to replace the Hodge. Scott Duxbury, Watford CEO stated "Rob will be backed through hell and high water". It turned out that translated to 10 league matches, of which he had only lost 2, this included beating Burnley, who would go on to leave the Championship quivering in their wake. During the winter break, the Luton board were very impressed with Rob Edwards as a candidate, and made the bold decision to employ him. In addition to this our January window included the loss of James Bree, who moved to Southampton to join up with Nathan Jones and Harry Cornick to Bristol City, fair play to them, they signed our best striker. Cameron Jerome also left by mutual termination, as he wanted to move back up North to his family. We replaced Bree with Cody Drameh on loan from Leeds and replaced Cornick with Joe Taylor, an unproven striker who was yet to break into the first team at Peterborough. However, Big Mick swore by him, and has been tracking him for years. We also brought in Marvelous Nakamba on loan from Aston Villa (who would turn out to be the difference maker, more on him later). Although, the general consensus was that we were too threadbare at the back, and up top, as injury could expose our lack of depth. But in Rob we trust, and we haven't looked back since. Since his appointment, we have only lost 3 matches in the league, one of which was his first game in charge, and even in that game we played sensational stuff for the first 35 minutes against Middlesbrough, To cap off a totally wizard season, we then had the playoffs, and the rest as they say, is history. Rob Edwards stats P25 - W14 - D8 - L3 - GF 34 - GA 16 - Pts 50 - WinP 56% - PpG 2.0 *Excluding playoff results Time for some RAPID STATS
How did our players do?As per my writer idol Mister PDW, these ratings were picked on a whim, don't shoot the messenger. This shows appearances (sub appearances), minutes played, goals, assists and WhoScored rating. I'm using a letter grade system for the squad, this is down to a whim and may contain some bias, take the ratings with a pinch of salt. Stats from WhoScored - League stats only (including playoffs). Sorted by most minutes played.Ethan Horvath 47 appearances/4261 minutes 19 clean sheets - 6.48 B It was a steady enough season from the US Stopper. He did make some absolute howlers at some points during the season, but never went full 19/20 Sluga (look it up, his howlers were legendary). Although he finished with 19 clean sheets, a lot of his shortcomings were covered up by how the team defended as a whole, shown by our very low xG conceded. I appreciate his time at the club, but I wouldn't take him back here permanently. Amari'i Bell 46(1) appearances/4167 minutes 1G/1A - 6.78 A+ Amari'i is quite literally the unsung hero of the playoff winning campaign. Having played at left wing back last season, and filling in for Alfie Doughty when he was unavailable this season. He played the majority of the season at left centre back, the position vacated by Kal Naismith. He was spectacular and offered so much more from that position than Kal did. He could carry the ball infield, he had the athleticism to make penetrating underlaps into the box and after all the stick he got from Blackburn fans, he can now stick two fingers up at them, and show off his medal. Carlton Morris 44(3) appearances/3693 minutes 20G/7A - 7.21 A+ It was a slow start for Carlton as he bedded into the Luton lineup. He didn't make an impact until he scored his first goal of the season against Swansea, which was also our first win. But, after that goal he didn't look back. He also managed to kick on further under Rob Edwards. He is simply a player that has a bit of everything in his locker, able to score from 3 yards or 30 yards. Tom Lockyer 42 appearances/3638 minutes 4G/1A - 7.13 A+ Considering Locks couldn't buy a game at the beginning of the season, having only come in to the squad for the Carabao Cup game against Newport, where we lost. Swansea was also a watershed moment for him, just like Carlton. This season Hatters saw the finest defensive displays courtesy of Locks, and absolute colossus at the back. It was very concerning when he collapsed during the playoff final. However, we have been told that he is absolutely fine, and will be ready for pre season. Hopefully meaning we will tie him down with a longer contract. Elijah Adebayo 42(3) appearances/3523 minutes 8G/4A - 6.72 A Sure Elijah didn't hit the heights (goalwise) that he did last season. However, he formed a solid partnership up top with Morris. Fortunately it meant that the heavy burden didn't all sit on Elijah's shoulders. If anyone doubts what Elijah brings to the team, just watch his assist for Jordan Clark's goal in the playoff final. His run, his feet, his turning Kyle McFadzean inside out before his pass to find Clark, shows you what he brings to the team. Even playing a three at the back system, any defenders are going to have a shit day trying to stop Elijah and Carlton from executing their movement. Also, it was great to see him get a stab at the playoffs this season after cruelly missing out last season. Jordan Clark 37(4) appearances/3390 minutes 3G/4A - 6.83 A This season, we all saw what Clicker was about, his movement, intelligence and passing were fully on display. It's remarkable that he was signed as a right winger and has been reboxed as an attacking midfielders, he brings the attributes and movement of a winger and takes it between the lines, making him nigh on impossible to pick up for the opposition. Having a similar trajectory to Luton, having been playing for Hyde against Luton in our final conference match. He deserves a shot at the Premier League, and his journey is also remarkable. Just like Luton making it from conference to Premier League in 9 seasons. Allan Campbell 38(5) appearances/3273 minutes 3G/2A - 6.52 B+ I'm being incredibly tight with these scores. Sorry Wee Al. He had a good season, not as stellar as last season, but he brought the same attitude on the pitch, he runs and presses like he has 5 lungs. He also has an eye for goal from midfield with some spectacular hits, most importantly putting the cherry on top of the Watford game, and forever writing himself into Hatters folklore. Unfortunately, with Nakamba entering the fray in January, he was the unfortunate one to miss out on those two remaining midfield spots. Alfie Doughty 28(3) appearances/2438 minutes 2G/5A - 7.14 A+ What a player we have on our hands with Alfie, he will seamlessly move up to the Premier League like he's easing himself into a nice warm bath. Pace, trickery and a delivery to match, he has been a joy to watch play this season. Fans were concerned about the speed at which he was being eased in at the start of the season, but I guess when you have had the injury record that Alfie has, it just makes sense. Also, that goal against QPR was just spectacular. James Bree 27 appearances/2430 minutes 0G/4A - 6.99 A Football can be a cruel game, it can also be incredibly ironic, and that irony can be absolutely hilarious. James Bree was both promoted and relegated this season. He did well for the first half of the season, needing to fill in right centre back, which he did well, whilst also contributing many key passes to the Hatters cause. However, the simple fact is, when Osho came in to the right centre back role, we looked a lot better defensively, and that showed with our climb up the table. I'm still disgruntled about the fee being £750k, what with his contract expiring. But sometimes the grass isn't always greener, is it, James!? Well, at least he's getting a promotion medal. Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu 27(6) appearances/2394 minutes 3G/1A - 6.62 A This man is a modern Luton Legend. He gets better every season, and he has been worth every penny of the £50,000 that John Still paid for him as a 19 year old back in the Conference. Did you know if plays one minute in the Premier League, he would be the first player in history to have played in the top 5 levels of the English Pyramid for one club? Of course you did, it's been all over the news. He deserves everything he gets, and I'm delighted the club have offered him new terms, Pelly deserves the world. Gabe Osho 25(5) appearances/2273 minutes 3G/0A - 6.64 A The only reason this isn't an A+ is because of his first half of the season. He is the biggest beneficiary of Rob Edwards coming in at Luton. Under Nathan Jones he looked edgy and shit scared to make a mistake, however, under Edwards he was calmness personified with his big runs out of defence with the ball seemingly glued to his foot. He also scored some vital goals, the first against Watford, and then the goal against Sunderland in the away playoff leg to get us up and running. He is another that his currently being negotiated with for a new deal, and he deserves it. Dan Potts 24(2) appearances/2020 minutes 1G/0A - 6.84 B Another player who has been on a spectacular journey with Luton after being signed by John Still in League 2. He started as a left back, but with our formation change over the last two seasons has been re-engineered as a left centre back, which in my opinion is a much better position for him. He doesn't give you the athleticism that Bell gives, but if a ball comes into the box, he will get his absolutely beautiful head onto that ball. He had solid performances this season, however, the emergence of Bell as well as a pesky back injury kept him out for a good chunk of the season. He also scored what turned out to be the winning penalty in the playoff final. Marvelous Nakamba 19(1) appearances/1726 minutes 0G/0A - 6.93 A+ I remember saying on the Oak Road Hatter podcast when Marv came in, he was the difference between getting into the playoffs and not getting into the playoffs. How wrong I was. He was an instrumental cog in the machine that got us promoted. I hope Villa are sensible with their valuation for a player that they simply don't want, so we don't have to shoot our transfer load prematurely on a player that wants to be at Luton. Marv also stepped up in the playoff final shootout and cooly slotted away his pen, which was remarkable considering during games he would always pass the ball rather than shoot. Cody Drameh 19 appearances/1581 minutes 0G/2A - 7.19 A We were all very nervous when Bree left, because were losing a solid option at right wing back. However, enter Cody Drameh. Another bitten by the cruel irony of football, with Leeds being relegated as he makes the step up to Premier League. However, Cody will be alright, with Luton attempting to re-sign him as well as Burnley having a go too, he's got a Premier League move lined up. As he started with Luton you could see he had not played a lot of football, but he found his feet very quickly. Reece Burke 15(7) appearances/1417 minutes 2G/0A - 6.71 B+ At the start of the season, if you had asked me who our best centre back was, it would have been Reece Burke. However, he seemingly has hamstring issues that have prevented him from being a top defender. Remember Hull signed him for £2m as a highly rated 21 year old. Regardless, this season he has scored 2 sensational goals; the piledriver against Blackburn, and then the intricate passing play against Huddersfield where he was instrumental throughout the build up. It would have been a B, if it had not been for his display in the playoff final, where he came on much earlier than expected for Tom Lockyer. If we can stay injury free, we have a Premier League quality defender on our hands. Sonny Bradley 14(5) appearances/1219 minutes 0G/0A - 6.56 B- Sonny is leaving Luton Town at the end of his contract, and he has been a stellar figure for Luton Town. We won promotion to the Championship in his first season at the club, he was key in stabilising the club in the Championship, before pushing on up the league, and eventually winning this second promotion. However, it is known the personal issues he has been experiencing off the field, with his father Ray passing, suffering from long covid and issues with his child's health. No matter who you are, if you are hit with that many gut punches, you will stay down. But Bradley didn't because he's a hard bastard. The cherry on this cake was, a disgusting aerial challenge from Yakou Meite, from which Bradley landed horrendously, and it looked like a season ending injury. But Bradley being the hard bastard he is, he recovered, and plugged gaps in our defence towards the end of the season. Regardless, Sonny was getting exposed by some of the better strikers in the league, Gyokeres and then Archer had a lot of luck running beyond him, but in all fairness, they are both exceptional players. I'm delighted he's leaving us on a high, as he deserves it, and I hope he stays in the Championship and gets a move that works for him. Luke Freeman 10(16) appearances/988 minutes 2G/1A - 6.41 C+ I wasn't expecting Luke Freeman to pull up trees this season, we all know about his injury history that restricting his appearances at Sheffield United. He showed glimpses of what he could do, the goal against QPR was a highlight for me. However, a troublesome groin kept him out for the majority of the season. He does a good job of looking busy on the pitch, without he had a flurry of creating chances at the beginning of the season, but went off the boil fast as his groin caught up with him. The + is purely because he managed to bag some goals and an assist. Cauley Woodrow 5(22) appearances/741 minutes 2G/1A - 6.35 C+ I was expecting a lot from Cauley this season. Certainly more rotation with the front two, who ended up playing a tonne of games, because Cauley was picking up niggling injuries, with the last one keeping him out of the playoffs completely, he couldn't get any momentum during the season. He offers something completely different to our attack and his special touches can be seen at times. Regarding Nathan Jones deciding to play him as a 10, no. Just no. He is not a 10. Look at the goal against Norwich, what a strike. I hope he stays fit next season, because he has unfinished business in the Premier League. Harry Cornick 7(12) appearances/740 minutes 1G/3A - 6.31 C- After his barnstormer of 21/22 I thought maybe Harry would kick on, but unfortunately not. He has always been very streaky in front of goal, but his finishing looked to have gone up a notch. Regardless, he wasn't getting enough first team minutes here and Bristol City needed a striker. So they signed Harry. Allegedly he went for more money than James Bree, which is absolutely criminal, considering they both had 6 months remaining on their contracts. Regardless Bristol City got a good, honest, hard working lad, and I hope he has a good season next year. Fortunately we sold him for more than we bought him, which is a great return on investment. Fred Onyedinma 6(13) appearances/696 minutes 0G/2A - 6.35 C There is most certainly a player in there. Unfortunately with Fred, he is such an athlete he is prone to many injures. When he sets off one on of his sprints you just worry that he's going to pull a hamstring. If he can get through an entire season without injuries he would be flying. Perhaps his best role is as an impact sub, because currently he is unable to string back to back 90 minutes together. Luke Berry 4(19) appearances/695 minutes 3G/0A - 6.43 B We know that Luke Berry is now mostly an impact player, who will happily step into the starting lineup when required. He is yet another that has been on a fantastic journey with us from League 2, and for him it's even more impressive because like Clark and Pelly he has made it from Conference football too. He is a scorer of vital goals, his three vital goals this season were; the late levellers against Rotherham and Millwall, as well as the winer against Blackpool. Love Bezza. Henri Lansbury 6(4) appearances/458 minutes 1G/0A - 6.65 B When required Henri did a job, however, it is clear to see that he has lost his legs and maybe his passion for football, considering he has a new passion, mowing lawns. Although, he will be remembered this season for his absolute shitpinger against Hull City. He's now leaving the club, I don't see him joining another team, I reckon he's going full time lawn lad now. Cameron Jerome 0(21) appearances/333 minutes 1G/1A - 6.22 C+ Considering his extremely limited role purely as an impact sub, Cammy J was an exceptional professional. Unfortunately the distance between his family up north was too much, therefore we agreed to mutually terminate his agreement. Shame he missed out on promotion with Bolton. I feel he would have continued to be a great depth option for us in the second half of the season. His legs have most certainly not gone, he is still a supreme athlete at 36 years old. Louie Watson 3(2) appearances/220 minutes 0G/0A - 6.51 B- Most definitely one for the future, but in his little flurry of starts around the time of Rob Edwards first games was a great indicator of the tidy passing he could bring. However, the signing of Nakamba pretty much put a ceiling on his minutes with the first team, also I think the Grimsby FA cup replay might have given Rob Edwards second thoughts about playing him, I don't know, I'm not part of the Luton coaching staff! He can still continue to develop, and I would like to see him get first team minutes next season in the Championship. Joe Taylor 1(5) appearances/130 minutes 0G/0A - 6.02 B- Definitely the best beneficiary of Cornick and Jerome leaving in January and Cauley's injury issues, as it immediately propelled him to third choice striker. However, Edwards was very reluctant to chuck him on the pitch. He was highly spoken of by Mick Harford and Darren MacAnthony, I don't put stock in what DMac says (although he does have an eye for attacking talent), but Mick knows recruitment and had been tracking him for years prior to the move. Joe was unfortunate to have his strike ruled out in the playoff final, but he showed great big balls to step up and take the second penalty. I reckon a championship/league 1 loan is in the pipeline for next season. Admiral Muskwe 1(1) appearances/105 minutes 0G/0A - 6.51 F I'm at a loss with Muskwe, considering he is more senior than Joe Taylor and was recalled from Fleetwood on the same day we signed Joe, why wasn't he anywhere near the squad? He's most definitely one that we will be looking to cut our losses on next season. He had one flurry of good form, prior to AFCON last season, and since then, he has not hit the heights expected. His loan spell at Fleetwood consisted of 14 games, 3 goals (2 of those being pens). I wouldn't expect to see him here next season. Harry Isted 1 appearance/90 minutes - 5.78 D I like Harry, but his only match this season was the 2-0 loss against Stoke, sure the rest of the team didn't do him any favours, by letting Stoke score two unmarked strikes from two crosses that were allowed to be sent in. I feel the club have done him a disservice, he has obvious talent, reflexes and shot stopping ability, he has shown that at Barnsley, and against Chelsea last season in the FA Cup. However, we opted to bring in emergency loans instead of giving him a chance (I know it was risky considering in 21/22 we were going through keepers like Spinal Tap go through drummers). He's left the club now, and I hope he gets a chance with a Championship club, he could do it. James Shea 1 appearance/90 minutes - 6.54 C Shea got a chance with the final game of the season against Hull and managed to keep a clean sheet. He did really well to come back from an awful injury. However, I do not see him being first choice next season. Potentially second or third choice depending on how good Jack Walton is... Elliot Thorpe 0(3) appearances/68 minutes - 6.19 C His season got off to a shit start, being loaned to Burton and not played. However, I don't know what we do with Elliot Thorpe, he was brought in with high expectations from Tottenham, he dropped down so he could stand a better chance of playing first team football, and he's ended up getting shunted out to the right wing back position. He look great in his cameo against Hull, but I thought we were getting a box to box midfielder. We've triggered an extension in his contract, I don't know if that means we are looking to get a fee by selling him, or whether we want to keep him about for further development. Joe Johnson 0(2) appearances/38 minutes - 6.28 B I'm very excited about JJ, he's 17 and managed to not only break onto the bench, but get some vital first team minutes, with his first minutes coming in a high pressure game against What next?One thing that is guaranteed is that we will be finishing higher than we did this season, Even if we finish 20th. You know what, I'm sure we are going to give it a good go. I don't think we will try and sign proven Premier League talent, but we are more likely to hoover up some of the hot talent in the Championship and League 1/League 2 for further development.I expect quite a big clearout with lots of the players who haven't gotten near our squad to be moved on; Glen Rea is all but gone (well done to him for recovering from his horrendous injury too), Aribim Pepple needs a loan and Dion Pereira, who Bradford were begging to rejoin has barely played this season. Carlos Mendes Gomes is one I would like to see around the first team squad next season. Lots of headaches for Rob Edwards, Richie Kyle and Paul Trollope. Exiting news to look forward to, the renovations are under way at the Kenny to welcome Premier League cameras and media teams, and ground will be broken at Power Court on 19th December 2023. These are amazing times to be a Hatter. Bold early early early pre pre season prediction. Luton Town are finishing 17th next season! I hope you enjoyed reading this. COYH |
2023.06.03 23:55 HyperDogOwner458 [TOMT][VIDEO][2013] of someone pointing out everything wrong with Let It Go
I watched this video in 2013, after Frozen came out. It wasn't a Cinemasins video. Like the title says, someone pointed out everything wrong with Let It Go. I can remember two things from it.
The first was after Elsa said "I don't care what they're going to say" the narrator said something which I can't remember and a cartoon guy with brown hair and glasses appeared and said "The Care Bears" - I don't know why.
The second thing is after Elsa said "You'll never see me cry!" it showed the scene of her crying because Anna got frozen.
I've searched for it and all the results show "Everything Wrong With Frozen" which isn't it as the video I'm searching for was the song and not for the film.
I don't know if the channel it was on was deleted or taken down for copyright.
submitted by HyperDogOwner458 to tipofmytongue [link] [comments]
The first was after Elsa said "I don't care what they're going to say" the narrator said something which I can't remember and a cartoon guy with brown hair and glasses appeared and said "The Care Bears" - I don't know why.
The second thing is after Elsa said "You'll never see me cry!" it showed the scene of her crying because Anna got frozen.
I've searched for it and all the results show "Everything Wrong With Frozen" which isn't it as the video I'm searching for was the song and not for the film.
I don't know if the channel it was on was deleted or taken down for copyright.
2023.06.03 23:53 idr1nkyourmilkshake Low Cortisol, High Inflammation
I’ve had Hashi’s for the past few years, finding out when I was trying to stay pregnant with my second. Been on Levothyroxine up and down the dosing scale but now have a slew of symptoms: low cortisol, high inflammation, joint aches, night sweats, weight gain, loss of [eyebrow] hair, and gi issues.
Doctor ordered a low cortisol test (iv) but the medicine is not available…doing a 3-hour glucose test…but other than that, I have no idea what’s going on.
Wondering if anyone has a similar profile and might have insight.
Thanks!
submitted by idr1nkyourmilkshake to Hashimotos [link] [comments]
Doctor ordered a low cortisol test (iv) but the medicine is not available…doing a 3-hour glucose test…but other than that, I have no idea what’s going on.
Wondering if anyone has a similar profile and might have insight.
Thanks!
2023.06.03 23:52 EvolvingAmoeba Iron Sol- Prolouge
In the beginning, u/SpacePaladin15 created the Nature of Predators. The Nature of Predators was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the screen; and the Spirit of Spacepaladin15 was moving over the face of the paragraphs. And Spacepaladin15 said, "Let there be carnivores"; and there were carnivores. And Spacepaladin15 saw that the carnivores were good; and Spacepaladin15 separated the carnivores from the herbivores. Spacepaladin called the carnivores Predators, and the herbivores he called Prey. And there were packs and there were herds, one chapter.
CW: Literally Space Hitler + xeno slavery
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory transcription subject: Führer Erik Von Koch of the Menschenreich
Date [standardized human time]: May 6, 2142
I opened my eyes as the definitive clacking of heels grew ever closer to the threshold of my dressing room. Looking straight ahead, I silently observed the untertier-servants in the mirror while they prepared me for the long day ahead of me. The declawed gojid filing my right hand dedicated itself to its work, most likely to intentionally avoid eye contact. To my left, a violet-colored krakotl with a liberally clipped beak brushed the tangles out of my long golden hair while shivering slightly upon noticing my gaze in the reflection. Below me crouched in front of my seat underneath the table was my servant-pet, Jeko, shining my boots. The young little venlil noticed me looking down at him and began beaming with obvious enjoyment, his tail wagging and ears twitching adorably. Unlike the others, this animal did not fear me, for I had been raising him since he was just a little mewling pup.
"Am I doing a good job, master? Are your boots shiny enough?" he asked with an innocent head tilt.
Looking down at my boots, I could see a glint in the glossy surface, even whilst concealed by the poor lighting. I couldn't help but respond with a slight smile and reach down with my free hand to stroke his creamy fur. he pushed his head back against the touch with his bestial eyes closed.
"You've done such a great job, my little lamb-chop! You're already becoming such a good little helper, aren't you?"
Reko merely giggled, as the other servants continued their work with what seemed to be a newfound sense of morbid awkwardness. It was obvious that the other untertiere found the concept of pets to be quite disturbing. Why this is, exactly, very few knew the truth. Some like to theorize it stems from some form of contempt for the beasts who willingly fawn to their superiors, resulting in some crude sense of pride being wounded in the process of watching one of their own gleefully lower themself to such a level. But I personally think that gives them a bit too much credit and pertain to a different explanation; that it is a sense of envy rather than contempt that jars them so. Perhaps they look upon those blissfully ignorant eyes and wish they too could experience such shameless joy. Or perhaps they simply notice the obvious preferential treatment given to them by their masters and feel envious. Either way, I've always found it quite amusing, which is why I had begun letting Jeko chip in during my morning routine.
"My Führer, you've been personally requested at your office in the Volkshalle with due haste... It's the hotline," my secretary informed me at the door.
I looked up at the short-haired woman with a momentary surprise. "Already? But I haven't even had breakfast yet. Shit... Alright, alright... I'll be out in a second... Wrap it up, you animals!"
I should've expected this much. After what I had.. ahem, failed to notice what Jägermeister Wilson just did in this latest campaign on the spur-distal front, I knew it was only a matter of time before I had Chief President Calamari Killjoy crawling up my ass. swivelling my chair around I promptly stood up, taking one last peak in the mirror to adjust my uniform and inspect the work of my servants. Seeing that it was adequate enough for the rushed job, I shooed the creatures away to their other tasks while bounding towards the hall. Reaching the end of my living quarters, two guards on the other side of the double doors greeted me in salute as I pushed the doors open. Continuing past them, I marched through the dark cryptoporticus lined with even more saluting guards until the hallway opened up into the ever-impressive dome of the Volkshalle, a sight that never grew old. I couldn't help but stop and stare at and admire the massive hall yet again for a few seconds of my valuable time before I continued on my way. A flight of beautifully detailed marbled stairs and a couple more turns later and I found myself pushing past the guards of the Führer's office before they could even properly salute me. Quickly closing the door behind me and locking it shut, I scanned the perimeter of the office, and noticing I was entirely alone and there was nothing out of place, I took a deep breath and calmly walked over to the holo screen waiting for me at the end of the massive table. Sitting myself down at the head of the table, the iconic crimson insignia of the Menschenreich and two golden statues of the great eagle clutching its talons upon the globe stood gloriously behind my visage. Steeling myself, I let out a sigh and pushed the "accept" button on the video chat. The screen lit up and momentarily flashed with white before a fuzzy image of an all too familiar hideous blue beast buffered and cleared up.
"Von Koch? Von Koch? There you are!" Gurgled out the oversized amphibian-mollusk thing. Her bulbous protruding eyes squinted with irritation and her generous width was hugged by crossed tentacles. "Have you any idea how long I've been waiting for you to stalk your way out of your lair!?"
Instead of yelling back, I politely bore my teeth at her, being sure to show off my slightly larger than average canines. "And a good morning to you too, Miss Universe. Or is it evening on your hemisphere of Aafa? Anyway, long time no see! Tell me, how have things been faring on the.. fairer side of space?"
Chief Lellaete scoffed at my nonchalant demeanor and begin rapidly flicking through her screen with a tendril. "You tell me."
Eventually, video footage of the glorious fall of the dossur homeworld, the triumphant victory of mankind over the foul krakotl-led defense fleet that tried to vainly defend it, and finally live feed of the beginning stages of the glassing of the planet all appeared before me.
"What's the problem? Just looks like business as usual to me..." I smirked.
Gritting her teeth, her blue face seemed to take a hue of purple, which was both impressive and horrifying as I never realized kolshians could do that. "The problem is that you've overextended by tens of lightyears more than we agreed to! You said this campaign would just be a 'little expansion of necessity.' This does not look very 'little' to me!"
"Oh come on, thirty light-years can't be that big. Not for you guys, at least. Our territory is still nowhere near a single core world. I think you're blowing this a bit out of proportion. What value did the dossur ever offer to the Federation, anyways?"
"One of your hunter misers or whatever the hell you call them just bombed four more homeworlds into shambles within the last eight months! You predators are out of line! This wasn't part of the agreement! Back off now or you will face the wrath of Aafa in full strength!"
Wincing and sucking in air between my teeth, I held out my arms and presented my palms in a surrendering manner. "Alright, alright... Listen, you know how human nature is. We sometimes get a bit ahead of ourselves. Moreover, keeping up morale is very important for us, and out of all my Jägermeisters, Wilson knows this best. That's just how he is. Always going for the moral victory and whatnot..."
I trailed off as I noticed Lellaete's face was somehow an even more violet shade of purple than it was before. Seeking to defuse the situation before she blew her gasket, I continued just before she could open her wide mouth.
"That being said, I realize he has been perhaps a bit.. too zealous in his duties. So all you have to do is send an extermination fleet or two to the other side of the front and I'll have the perfect reason to pull him off and tell him to defend. Now isn't that awfully convenient for the little rodents? Then, we can allll take a deep breath and settle down for some more casual cattle raiding and predator exterminations for the next few years with our campaign declared a partial success and your extermination fleets celebrating another sobering pyrrhic victory to put the fear of predators into them. How does that sound to you, Chief?"
The kolshian bowed her head and squinted her eyes at me in tense silence before straightening back up with a sudden calm that was a bit unnerving even to me. "Very well. But we will also be taking back the Sethmokin homeworld."
dammit, that was the one I wanted to keep!
The unusually low gravity of the Sethmokin homeworld Ithilus combined with its mild temperature and mineral-rich crust made it an ideal place for a space elevator supported industrial megacenter. The kolshians clearly knew this too, as evidenced by Chief Lellaete singling it out and prying it from my hands with no hint of subtly whatsoever. Unfortunately, they seem to be slowly catching on to my gradual ramping up of industry. Not wanting to push my luck any further, I had no choice but to concede with what I had already gotten, lest the "predator-prey agreement" falls apart.
"Excellent!" I beamed at the frowning slimy herbivore as the pads of my digits pressed together. "I'm glad we could settle this issue peacefully."
"Stay in line, Von Koch. We never had to use the hotline with your predecessors nearly as much as with you. We can't have things looking too dire, or too relaxed. The Federation needs a predator, just as you need prey."
"Yes, yes, I understand, the Ewigkeitskrieg must continue forever and all that..."
"Hmph! Good to know even a beast as unruly as yourself can see reason."
I bite my tongue, instead shutting my eyes and spotting a closed-mouth smile in an exaggeratedly polite manner before reaching over to terminate the call. If I had to spend one more moment speaking to this detestable thing I might just pop a cyanide pill into my mouth. At the very least, nothing too problematic or convoluted happened to complicate future plans.
"Well, if that will be all then, don't hesitate to call again, Chief! After all, I know how you herd animals can get rather needy after all soo.." I chirped at my greatest adversary and accomplice.
"Wait. There is one more thing I need to tell you."
My finger which hovered over the "end" button strained and slowly curled into a white-knuckled fist.
Now what could it possibly be, my ectolan friend?" I answered, still smiling with my clenched fist above the holo pad surface.
"You humans are no longer alone. There's another predator race in the galaxy."
The awkward smile slowly dissipated from my face and my eyes opened up to gaze at the kolshian. I had to be sure I was hearing things right.
"What?"
"You heard me. We believe there is now a second predator race in the galaxy. One that is even more carnivorous than you, in fact, and they have just developed faster-than-light travel."
"How?" Was all I could croak out of my slacked jaw.
"My, such a prey-like look on your face!" snickered Chief Lellaete. "But if you must know, it was... Well, we are equally shocked, really. The farsul discovered them and spent decades observing them, as they usually do with primitives. They told us they destroyed themselves in their world's fourth world war after developing the atomic bomb about three hundred years ago. But it seems they either somehow survived nuclear armageddon or the armageddon part never happened in the first place. And before you ask, yes, that is all the Farsul States will tell us. A simple, careless error on their part for failing to confirm their extinction..."
I sat there completely stunned into silence.
Is it really true? After all these years of being alone, there is finally a second race of predators? Of people? Of übertiere?
The kolshian took my silence as an invitation to continue elaborating. "They call themselves the arxur, and their existence has already begun muddying up the waters."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"What I mean is that they have only been spacefaring for two months, and already they have allied with the thafki and convinced them to seemingly betray the Federation.
"Th-they allied with the prey!?"
"It's disgusting, I know, but it seems to be the truth. Our kinds are meant to be in eternal opposition. No one was around to give them the memo, apparently." Lellaete answered monotonously.
Bringing a palm to my temple and resting the elbow on the armrest, my mind began racing before a far more pressing matter revealed itself. "And why are you telling me all this, exactly?" My eyes narrowed.
"Because I don't trust a single cube in your icebox, Von Koch. I'm telling you right now so that when your kind inevitably encounters them, you can't pull anything funny and try to feign ignorance, as you already seem to be in the habit of doing. All I'm asking is that you let the Federation handle this for now. We will get them to the right way of thinking after we get them under control. Then you can finally have your first official ally once you 'save' them from us. Or eat them. Or throw them into gas chambers. We don't really care at that point; you can do whatever you want with them. Congratulations to mankind for finally finding a species as corrupted and ghastly as yourself."
I simply stared at the kolshian unabated. "And what will happen if they do not come to see 'our way', exactly?"
The Federation leader leaned in, and a strange glint seemed to catch in her large, horizontally pupiled eyes that made me want to shutter. "I think you know very well the answer to that question, Führer."
I scoffed. "What an awfully predatory look on your face... Fine, I can see you already have the reins on the situation then, but the same goes for you as well; mess things up and it will ruin everything!"
The kolshian narrowed her eyes with conceit. "Heh. Perhaps we aren't so different from each other after all."
Terminating the call before I could rebuke that heinous conjecture, I finally let my arms slump down into my sides. This is why I despised the herbivores so much, and the kolshians seventy seven fold.
"Filthy untertier..."
Getting up from my chair, I slowly meandered over to the Wall of Führers, and starting from my own portrait, I gazed at each and every one, mostly lost in my own thoughts, until finally I rested my eyes directly upon the first and stopped.
Surely this isn't what he wanted the Reich to become.
Although it was true that I along with every other previous Führer after the Founder was a willing accomplice to the Ewigkeitskrieg between the Federation and the Menschenreich, deep down, it truly made me sick to my stomach working with those squid-frogs. Supposedly, the Founder despised the xenos and their intervention of Earth from the moment they made first contact, purely on principle, and this was rightfully so. For the sapient herbivore is nothing more than a husk, a mindless creature that can act only upon instinct. Their so-called 'higher intelligence' is nothing more than a mere slave to these impulses, and thus does the herbivore-folk seek to do nothing but destroy and defile the ecosystem that gave life to them by burning away any trace of predation or aggression in sight. Feeling safe at last from the natural order they so despise, they begin to scour their planets like a ravenous locust swarm. They proceed to breed profusely until their numbers swell into innumerable hordes and then, upon reaching and overshooting the carrying capacity of their planet, the herd moves on to new worlds, so that they might do the same there. Even beasts who wallow in the mud at the very least know how to live in harmony with nature and the universe at large, but the herbivore xeno is incapable of this. This is why they are less than animals. This is why they are the untertier. And out of all the hideously vile and contemptible untertiere which corrupt this galaxy like a foulest cancer, none are so hypocritical, deceitful, and subversive as the kolshian scum. Chillingly intelligent and calculating, they ofttimes liken themselves to true persons, perhaps to the point of deceiving even themselves. But truly, one needs only to look upon their 'works' to see that in the end, they too are nothing but slaves to the urges of the untertier. Chief Lellaete, she, no, it is but a puppet master of the lesser untertiere with it itself gleefully serving the master that is fear and cowardice.
But these new predators, if things are true as the kolshians say, are different. They may finally be the second known race of übertiere in the entire galaxy. And here are the ectolan scum, already conspiring against them. They have always been meddling in everything, long before they irrevocably ruined the Earth with their tampering, and if something is not done about it, they will continue to do so long after we are gone. That is why I want more for the Menschenreich than this eternal conspiracy. Why I want an end to the Ewigkeitskrieg. My predecessors were wise, and knowing that directly going against the will of the Federation was suicide, began the Ewigkeitskrieg with them. But sometime during this war without an end, they grew weak. Cowardly. Complacent. But I hunger for more! For what is the meaning behind a thousand-year Reich if nothing is ever accomplished in that millennium? How can mankind ever call itself the übertier if it does nothing but sit in eternal stagnation? No, the eternity we have is but a farce. But one day, this will change, for I will bring about the end of eternity, and in its wake, I shall construct a true eternity, one of prosperity, glory, and pride for all of humanity forever! And this advent of a second race of predators may yet prove an opportunity! This could be the stir in the pot I've been waiting for! The universe has presented me with a grand question concerning the kolshian-puppeted Federation, and I have the final solution!
Do you hear that, Chief Lellaete? I will continue to play your little "predator and prey" game for the time being... But soon, very soon, with the help of these "arxur", I shall finally bring about the Viecherdämmerung! And just as the Founding Führer once united the Earth and cleansed it of all the degenerate, savage, and subversive untermensch, so too will I cleanse the galaxy of the untertier, so that the glory of the Menschenreich shall spread to every star, shining like a beacon in the darkness of the void of space for ten thousand years!
submitted by EvolvingAmoeba to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
CW: Literally Space Hitler + xeno slavery
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory transcription subject: Führer Erik Von Koch of the Menschenreich
Date [standardized human time]: May 6, 2142
I opened my eyes as the definitive clacking of heels grew ever closer to the threshold of my dressing room. Looking straight ahead, I silently observed the untertier-servants in the mirror while they prepared me for the long day ahead of me. The declawed gojid filing my right hand dedicated itself to its work, most likely to intentionally avoid eye contact. To my left, a violet-colored krakotl with a liberally clipped beak brushed the tangles out of my long golden hair while shivering slightly upon noticing my gaze in the reflection. Below me crouched in front of my seat underneath the table was my servant-pet, Jeko, shining my boots. The young little venlil noticed me looking down at him and began beaming with obvious enjoyment, his tail wagging and ears twitching adorably. Unlike the others, this animal did not fear me, for I had been raising him since he was just a little mewling pup.
"Am I doing a good job, master? Are your boots shiny enough?" he asked with an innocent head tilt.
Looking down at my boots, I could see a glint in the glossy surface, even whilst concealed by the poor lighting. I couldn't help but respond with a slight smile and reach down with my free hand to stroke his creamy fur. he pushed his head back against the touch with his bestial eyes closed.
"You've done such a great job, my little lamb-chop! You're already becoming such a good little helper, aren't you?"
Reko merely giggled, as the other servants continued their work with what seemed to be a newfound sense of morbid awkwardness. It was obvious that the other untertiere found the concept of pets to be quite disturbing. Why this is, exactly, very few knew the truth. Some like to theorize it stems from some form of contempt for the beasts who willingly fawn to their superiors, resulting in some crude sense of pride being wounded in the process of watching one of their own gleefully lower themself to such a level. But I personally think that gives them a bit too much credit and pertain to a different explanation; that it is a sense of envy rather than contempt that jars them so. Perhaps they look upon those blissfully ignorant eyes and wish they too could experience such shameless joy. Or perhaps they simply notice the obvious preferential treatment given to them by their masters and feel envious. Either way, I've always found it quite amusing, which is why I had begun letting Jeko chip in during my morning routine.
"My Führer, you've been personally requested at your office in the Volkshalle with due haste... It's the hotline," my secretary informed me at the door.
I looked up at the short-haired woman with a momentary surprise. "Already? But I haven't even had breakfast yet. Shit... Alright, alright... I'll be out in a second... Wrap it up, you animals!"
I should've expected this much. After what I had.. ahem, failed to notice what Jägermeister Wilson just did in this latest campaign on the spur-distal front, I knew it was only a matter of time before I had Chief President Calamari Killjoy crawling up my ass. swivelling my chair around I promptly stood up, taking one last peak in the mirror to adjust my uniform and inspect the work of my servants. Seeing that it was adequate enough for the rushed job, I shooed the creatures away to their other tasks while bounding towards the hall. Reaching the end of my living quarters, two guards on the other side of the double doors greeted me in salute as I pushed the doors open. Continuing past them, I marched through the dark cryptoporticus lined with even more saluting guards until the hallway opened up into the ever-impressive dome of the Volkshalle, a sight that never grew old. I couldn't help but stop and stare at and admire the massive hall yet again for a few seconds of my valuable time before I continued on my way. A flight of beautifully detailed marbled stairs and a couple more turns later and I found myself pushing past the guards of the Führer's office before they could even properly salute me. Quickly closing the door behind me and locking it shut, I scanned the perimeter of the office, and noticing I was entirely alone and there was nothing out of place, I took a deep breath and calmly walked over to the holo screen waiting for me at the end of the massive table. Sitting myself down at the head of the table, the iconic crimson insignia of the Menschenreich and two golden statues of the great eagle clutching its talons upon the globe stood gloriously behind my visage. Steeling myself, I let out a sigh and pushed the "accept" button on the video chat. The screen lit up and momentarily flashed with white before a fuzzy image of an all too familiar hideous blue beast buffered and cleared up.
"Von Koch? Von Koch? There you are!" Gurgled out the oversized amphibian-mollusk thing. Her bulbous protruding eyes squinted with irritation and her generous width was hugged by crossed tentacles. "Have you any idea how long I've been waiting for you to stalk your way out of your lair!?"
Instead of yelling back, I politely bore my teeth at her, being sure to show off my slightly larger than average canines. "And a good morning to you too, Miss Universe. Or is it evening on your hemisphere of Aafa? Anyway, long time no see! Tell me, how have things been faring on the.. fairer side of space?"
Chief Lellaete scoffed at my nonchalant demeanor and begin rapidly flicking through her screen with a tendril. "You tell me."
Eventually, video footage of the glorious fall of the dossur homeworld, the triumphant victory of mankind over the foul krakotl-led defense fleet that tried to vainly defend it, and finally live feed of the beginning stages of the glassing of the planet all appeared before me.
"What's the problem? Just looks like business as usual to me..." I smirked.
Gritting her teeth, her blue face seemed to take a hue of purple, which was both impressive and horrifying as I never realized kolshians could do that. "The problem is that you've overextended by tens of lightyears more than we agreed to! You said this campaign would just be a 'little expansion of necessity.' This does not look very 'little' to me!"
"Oh come on, thirty light-years can't be that big. Not for you guys, at least. Our territory is still nowhere near a single core world. I think you're blowing this a bit out of proportion. What value did the dossur ever offer to the Federation, anyways?"
"One of your hunter misers or whatever the hell you call them just bombed four more homeworlds into shambles within the last eight months! You predators are out of line! This wasn't part of the agreement! Back off now or you will face the wrath of Aafa in full strength!"
Wincing and sucking in air between my teeth, I held out my arms and presented my palms in a surrendering manner. "Alright, alright... Listen, you know how human nature is. We sometimes get a bit ahead of ourselves. Moreover, keeping up morale is very important for us, and out of all my Jägermeisters, Wilson knows this best. That's just how he is. Always going for the moral victory and whatnot..."
I trailed off as I noticed Lellaete's face was somehow an even more violet shade of purple than it was before. Seeking to defuse the situation before she blew her gasket, I continued just before she could open her wide mouth.
"That being said, I realize he has been perhaps a bit.. too zealous in his duties. So all you have to do is send an extermination fleet or two to the other side of the front and I'll have the perfect reason to pull him off and tell him to defend. Now isn't that awfully convenient for the little rodents? Then, we can allll take a deep breath and settle down for some more casual cattle raiding and predator exterminations for the next few years with our campaign declared a partial success and your extermination fleets celebrating another sobering pyrrhic victory to put the fear of predators into them. How does that sound to you, Chief?"
The kolshian bowed her head and squinted her eyes at me in tense silence before straightening back up with a sudden calm that was a bit unnerving even to me. "Very well. But we will also be taking back the Sethmokin homeworld."
dammit, that was the one I wanted to keep!
The unusually low gravity of the Sethmokin homeworld Ithilus combined with its mild temperature and mineral-rich crust made it an ideal place for a space elevator supported industrial megacenter. The kolshians clearly knew this too, as evidenced by Chief Lellaete singling it out and prying it from my hands with no hint of subtly whatsoever. Unfortunately, they seem to be slowly catching on to my gradual ramping up of industry. Not wanting to push my luck any further, I had no choice but to concede with what I had already gotten, lest the "predator-prey agreement" falls apart.
"Excellent!" I beamed at the frowning slimy herbivore as the pads of my digits pressed together. "I'm glad we could settle this issue peacefully."
"Stay in line, Von Koch. We never had to use the hotline with your predecessors nearly as much as with you. We can't have things looking too dire, or too relaxed. The Federation needs a predator, just as you need prey."
"Yes, yes, I understand, the Ewigkeitskrieg must continue forever and all that..."
"Hmph! Good to know even a beast as unruly as yourself can see reason."
I bite my tongue, instead shutting my eyes and spotting a closed-mouth smile in an exaggeratedly polite manner before reaching over to terminate the call. If I had to spend one more moment speaking to this detestable thing I might just pop a cyanide pill into my mouth. At the very least, nothing too problematic or convoluted happened to complicate future plans.
"Well, if that will be all then, don't hesitate to call again, Chief! After all, I know how you herd animals can get rather needy after all soo.." I chirped at my greatest adversary and accomplice.
"Wait. There is one more thing I need to tell you."
My finger which hovered over the "end" button strained and slowly curled into a white-knuckled fist.
Now what could it possibly be, my ectolan friend?" I answered, still smiling with my clenched fist above the holo pad surface.
"You humans are no longer alone. There's another predator race in the galaxy."
The awkward smile slowly dissipated from my face and my eyes opened up to gaze at the kolshian. I had to be sure I was hearing things right.
"What?"
"You heard me. We believe there is now a second predator race in the galaxy. One that is even more carnivorous than you, in fact, and they have just developed faster-than-light travel."
"How?" Was all I could croak out of my slacked jaw.
"My, such a prey-like look on your face!" snickered Chief Lellaete. "But if you must know, it was... Well, we are equally shocked, really. The farsul discovered them and spent decades observing them, as they usually do with primitives. They told us they destroyed themselves in their world's fourth world war after developing the atomic bomb about three hundred years ago. But it seems they either somehow survived nuclear armageddon or the armageddon part never happened in the first place. And before you ask, yes, that is all the Farsul States will tell us. A simple, careless error on their part for failing to confirm their extinction..."
I sat there completely stunned into silence.
Is it really true? After all these years of being alone, there is finally a second race of predators? Of people? Of übertiere?
The kolshian took my silence as an invitation to continue elaborating. "They call themselves the arxur, and their existence has already begun muddying up the waters."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"What I mean is that they have only been spacefaring for two months, and already they have allied with the thafki and convinced them to seemingly betray the Federation.
"Th-they allied with the prey!?"
"It's disgusting, I know, but it seems to be the truth. Our kinds are meant to be in eternal opposition. No one was around to give them the memo, apparently." Lellaete answered monotonously.
Bringing a palm to my temple and resting the elbow on the armrest, my mind began racing before a far more pressing matter revealed itself. "And why are you telling me all this, exactly?" My eyes narrowed.
"Because I don't trust a single cube in your icebox, Von Koch. I'm telling you right now so that when your kind inevitably encounters them, you can't pull anything funny and try to feign ignorance, as you already seem to be in the habit of doing. All I'm asking is that you let the Federation handle this for now. We will get them to the right way of thinking after we get them under control. Then you can finally have your first official ally once you 'save' them from us. Or eat them. Or throw them into gas chambers. We don't really care at that point; you can do whatever you want with them. Congratulations to mankind for finally finding a species as corrupted and ghastly as yourself."
I simply stared at the kolshian unabated. "And what will happen if they do not come to see 'our way', exactly?"
The Federation leader leaned in, and a strange glint seemed to catch in her large, horizontally pupiled eyes that made me want to shutter. "I think you know very well the answer to that question, Führer."
I scoffed. "What an awfully predatory look on your face... Fine, I can see you already have the reins on the situation then, but the same goes for you as well; mess things up and it will ruin everything!"
The kolshian narrowed her eyes with conceit. "Heh. Perhaps we aren't so different from each other after all."
Terminating the call before I could rebuke that heinous conjecture, I finally let my arms slump down into my sides. This is why I despised the herbivores so much, and the kolshians seventy seven fold.
"Filthy untertier..."
Getting up from my chair, I slowly meandered over to the Wall of Führers, and starting from my own portrait, I gazed at each and every one, mostly lost in my own thoughts, until finally I rested my eyes directly upon the first and stopped.
Surely this isn't what he wanted the Reich to become.
Although it was true that I along with every other previous Führer after the Founder was a willing accomplice to the Ewigkeitskrieg between the Federation and the Menschenreich, deep down, it truly made me sick to my stomach working with those squid-frogs. Supposedly, the Founder despised the xenos and their intervention of Earth from the moment they made first contact, purely on principle, and this was rightfully so. For the sapient herbivore is nothing more than a husk, a mindless creature that can act only upon instinct. Their so-called 'higher intelligence' is nothing more than a mere slave to these impulses, and thus does the herbivore-folk seek to do nothing but destroy and defile the ecosystem that gave life to them by burning away any trace of predation or aggression in sight. Feeling safe at last from the natural order they so despise, they begin to scour their planets like a ravenous locust swarm. They proceed to breed profusely until their numbers swell into innumerable hordes and then, upon reaching and overshooting the carrying capacity of their planet, the herd moves on to new worlds, so that they might do the same there. Even beasts who wallow in the mud at the very least know how to live in harmony with nature and the universe at large, but the herbivore xeno is incapable of this. This is why they are less than animals. This is why they are the untertier. And out of all the hideously vile and contemptible untertiere which corrupt this galaxy like a foulest cancer, none are so hypocritical, deceitful, and subversive as the kolshian scum. Chillingly intelligent and calculating, they ofttimes liken themselves to true persons, perhaps to the point of deceiving even themselves. But truly, one needs only to look upon their 'works' to see that in the end, they too are nothing but slaves to the urges of the untertier. Chief Lellaete, she, no, it is but a puppet master of the lesser untertiere with it itself gleefully serving the master that is fear and cowardice.
But these new predators, if things are true as the kolshians say, are different. They may finally be the second known race of übertiere in the entire galaxy. And here are the ectolan scum, already conspiring against them. They have always been meddling in everything, long before they irrevocably ruined the Earth with their tampering, and if something is not done about it, they will continue to do so long after we are gone. That is why I want more for the Menschenreich than this eternal conspiracy. Why I want an end to the Ewigkeitskrieg. My predecessors were wise, and knowing that directly going against the will of the Federation was suicide, began the Ewigkeitskrieg with them. But sometime during this war without an end, they grew weak. Cowardly. Complacent. But I hunger for more! For what is the meaning behind a thousand-year Reich if nothing is ever accomplished in that millennium? How can mankind ever call itself the übertier if it does nothing but sit in eternal stagnation? No, the eternity we have is but a farce. But one day, this will change, for I will bring about the end of eternity, and in its wake, I shall construct a true eternity, one of prosperity, glory, and pride for all of humanity forever! And this advent of a second race of predators may yet prove an opportunity! This could be the stir in the pot I've been waiting for! The universe has presented me with a grand question concerning the kolshian-puppeted Federation, and I have the final solution!
Do you hear that, Chief Lellaete? I will continue to play your little "predator and prey" game for the time being... But soon, very soon, with the help of these "arxur", I shall finally bring about the Viecherdämmerung! And just as the Founding Führer once united the Earth and cleansed it of all the degenerate, savage, and subversive untermensch, so too will I cleanse the galaxy of the untertier, so that the glory of the Menschenreich shall spread to every star, shining like a beacon in the darkness of the void of space for ten thousand years!
2023.06.03 23:47 OneBoredMan02 Time to be a Hero Volume 24
Serious Issues - Time to be a Hero - Volume 24
Sunday 24th June 2017
WARNING: THIS VOLUME CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE!
It's been ten days since Natsuki got kidnapped and held hostage by the recently arrived agents from Coomer. We beat them and promptly moved base to this little cabin like structure just at the outskirts of town, it's run down in places but it's nothing we can't fix up! Since last week nobody has reported any sightings of any Coomer agents which is expected, but I know it's just part of how they work. They look for a trial and follow it, until they find you. But when they do, they don't attack, they hang back for awhile and watch, waiting for a moment to take you by surprise. Stalking you. Assessing your strengths and weaknesses. Waiting for an opportunity. When they do make their move, they are quick. They are precise. They are calculating. They do not make mistakes. They do not get cocky. They do not let up for a second. That's why we all need to be on high alert and wide eyed. Hell, normal patrol is more dangerous now than ever! We just need to get permission and recognition from everybody else if we want to patrol for the night! Thankfully we came up with a secret code for the group chat, just in case that anybody that hacks into our group chat will not recognise what we are talking about right away. Basically we use emojis to let the others know about certain things, it's a code and it confuses me at the best of times. But Sayori did put this together on a whim so we should be just that little bit safer now. Right now I'm sitting in my apartment watching tv as I wait for Monika to come back from visiting her parents. She asked me if I wanted to come along but I declined her offer, I just want to rest a little bit from working hard to make the base for us. I had Sayori on my back telling me the various things she wanted, it was like her telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas! It was a ridiculous amount of things I had to make and it really took the wind out of my sails! So here I am, just relaxing I guess... I look at the tv show I was watching, it's some random programme about a teacher making drugs or something? I don't know about it, it's kinda funny I suppose, yet I can't really sit down and just enjoy it. In the back of my mind, I'm worried sick about Monika! She's been away for an hour now and I feel like it's been far too long for her to be out and not at least send me a text or whatever! But I shouldn't think too much of this, I'm just stressed out of my mind and very tired. I rub my eyes as I try to return back to the programme, but I just can't. Now that I've acknowledged the worry I can't get it out of my head! Fuck it! I toss away the remote and grab my phone, I'll just give her a text. Ask her how she's getting on with her parents. I shoot Monika a text in our chat reading:
'hey honey! just checking up on u and ur parents, how is it all going??' I set down my phone and wait for a reply...
one minute passes...
She still hasn't seen my text! Argh! Botan, give her time to pull out the phone and have a look at her notifications! She's with her parents for goodness sake, she can't just focus on me all the time! I need to settle down more! Maybe if I do some chores? I stand up and look around the apartment? What could I do? Maybe give the carpet a vacuum? Yeah! I head over to the closet, pull out the vacuum and bring it over to the centre of the living room. I turn it on and start the routine of clearing up the floor. I move the couch and get under it as I make my way around the room. Reaching into little corners and below the tv stand as I make sure everything's clean! I smile as I turn the vacuum off and see that the carpet is now much cleaner! I smile as I put the vacuum back into the closet. I then head back over to the couch and pick up my phone, Monika still hasn't seen my message? I'm getting concerned now, it's been unread for seven minutes, maybe I should phone her?? I go to select the call option but I stop myself, I am just....overreacting. Give her time. Maybe she left her phone in another room? She's at her parents' house after all? Or maybe she still hasn't gotten a chance to? Right, well what now?
…
Guess some dinner wouldn't hurt? I walk into the kitchen and have a look around the fridge for something to eat? Hmmm, maybe Monika would like something for when she gets back? I grab my phone and give her another text. 'would u like something 4 dinner?' I put my phone back into my pocket as I have another look. Guess I'll have some pizza with some chips! I take out a bag of frozen chips and a pepperoni and cheese pizza, setting them both onto the kitchen counter. I grab a tray for both pizza and fries and set them both out. I head over to the cooker and pre-heat the oven as I give it a minute or so. I then put my chips in first, followed by the pizza and close the oven door. Time to let them cook! I head back over to the living room and sit down. Got to give them time to cook, so what now? I look at the time, it's just coming up to eight? Hmmm, Monika did say she'll be back at around eight so....where is she? Botan! Stop it! I slap myself in the face! I really need to get a grip of myself! Maybe I can destress with a nice bath? Yeah, that will help! I walk into the kitchen and set a timer on the electronic clock for my food to be taken out. I then head into the bathroom and start running the bath. After a few minutes the bath is filled up and has plenty of bubbles going as I take off my clothes, here we go! I step in as the warm water quickly makes me jump in surprise at the heat! I then quickly get in as I relax. Oh yeah, this is much better! I smile, it's almost like I wasn't panicking about my girlfriend potentially going missing when she's out right now! ….urgh! I cover my face in water and take a deep breath. I just need to calm down. That's all. Monika can handle herself. The worse thing that could happen is that she gets killed and I never see her again...rgh! That temper I have, I almost forgot! Jeez, no more thoughts like that! Jesus, why did I even think of that?? Am I really wanting to push myself to burst out there and go looking for her? She's fine! As soon as I think that I hear my phone vibrate in the pocket of my shorts! Oh! That's probably her! I reach over to my towel, drying my hands before grabbing my phone. I take look at the message I just got, it's from Yuri?
Y: 'Hi Botan, I know this may seem a little short notice but can you please come down to the shop? I require your assistance with something' …sigh, fuck off man! I shake my head and chuck my phone away! Fucking Yuri! Why does she have to ask me of all people?! Why not her fucking boy toy?! sigh...calm down man. I'm losing it. Having no Monika around is really bad for me. She's the only thing keeping me from floating away from reason. With Coomer now here too, I guess it's all starting to pile up somewhat? Sigh...right. I pick my phone back up and send Yuri a text.
B: 'kk Yuri, give me 5 mins' I sigh as I sit up, so much for this bath? I quickly get out and dry myself off with a towel. I then walk out of the bathroom after pulling the plug on the bath, my phone vibrates again? I check it, another message from Yuri.
Y: 'thank you very much, please bring your best suit too!' ...oh right! I quickly dry off my hair and get in costume before running to the window-wait! I check on the timer in the kitchen, there's still around fifteen minutes to go? I turn the heat down to the minimum and make the adjust on the time, I just to be sure I don't want to burn down my new home. Monika would kill me. I leap out of the window into the dying light of the day! Okay, to the store! I don't know what's going on with Yuri but she might need my help! Although her texts were quite casual there? No matter! I swing into the air and land on a roof as I see the shop in the distance! Right, be ready for anything! I jump across a gap and leap off of a roof to see Yuri in front of the store? She looks....glum? I land not too far away from her as she looks at me, she doesn't look happy that's for sure? "Thanks for coming Sparrow." She's using my hero name?
B: "Of course citizen? What do you need?" I walk up to her as she looks around herself?
Y: "Uhm, well... there's a person in the store who's...well..." Yuri looks into the store and shivers? "I don't think he's mentally well at all..."
B: "What do you mean?" I look into the store as I spot a man? He's throwing things about in a crazed like fashion?
Y: "I would deal with this myself but..." Yuri whispers as she eyes one of the numerous cameras in the store. "I can't really run off and just come back you know?"
B: "I understand, well what do you think is wrong with him?" She shrugs?
Y: "He came in normal at first, he smiled and even said hello. Next thing I knew he started screaming all of sudden?" We look at the man as he climbs on top of the counter? "I've never seen anything like this before?"
B: "Calm down Yuri, I'll take care of it...did you call for police and an ambulance? This might be a drug related issue."
Y: "I have Sparrow don't worry. All the doors are locked so it will only be you and him in there. Just try not to make too much of a mess please?"
B: "Got it." I walk into the store slowly as most of the lights are off? I look back at Yuri who only locks the front door behind me and gives me an encouraging smile. I think she's a little scared to be in this type of situation. After all...it is very dark, and I'm not too fond of this situation already. I grab a torch from my pouch and get moving, the store just frozen in silence it seems? Okay, come on Botan. You got this. You've dealt with much worse things than just a potential drugged up man. This should be a piece of cake...hopefully? "Hello??" I call out rather nervously, but the silence I get in return just makes my spine shudder. "I'm here to help, please make yourself known!"
…
?: "YAH!!" A sudden scream comes from my left as I see the man on all fours quickly moving about between the stalls?! What the hell has gotten into him?! I look around before getting the good idea of zipping myself up to the roof to get a birds eye view of the whole store. I do just that and shine my torch downwards, quickly spotting the man huddled over some flowers as he eats them?? Jeez, this man's not right at all! He looks at me with a crazed look before slowly turning. "Ah! baga to yos!" He stares at me as he talks gibberish. "Joka in plot bin!" I just feel sorry as he stares at me, he needs serious help. "Ah! Yoga bob!" He picks up a candle and throws it at me! I'm able to get out the way but it lands me back onto the store floor and out of sight of the man. I can hear him moving about as I try to keep quiet, I need to get the jump on him. I don't want to hurt him of course, this could be some sort of episode he's suffering from? I spawn in some sleeping gas as I look around for him, just going to put to him to sleep so that I can start to look him over. This must be some- "Yawh!" The man jumps on my back as I stagger for a second! He hits me or rather slaps me in the head a few times before I grab his arm and throw him off of me! I'm not too hard as I only pull him off and get in front of me as he tries to scramble to his feet, but sadly for him I'm too quick as I hook his head and apply the gas to his mouth and nose. The man struggles at first but starts to slow down as he eyes close and then he's out. I set him down into the recovery position as I look at him. Poor guy, what was the cause of this? I look at his face as...hold on? I know this guy? That's....Nick! The guy who I saved on my first night here! What's he doing back here?! Nick looks a little worse for ware, his beard is a lot longer as is his hair. He looks like a wild man if anything. His clothes are rather nice though? I get a closer look at him as he breaths gently. I told him not to come back! Or...did he choose to come back? Maybe he was found by some of the big mans' guys? I look at Nick for any sign of some drug use, he couldn't have a mental condition like that? Soon I find two needle marks in both his neck and right arm? Two marks? Hmm, why did he get injected twice? What is this stuff? I take a capsule and a blood sample for later. Sayori and Yuri can take a look at that. If the drug runs in the blood then that will be where our answers lie. The room then gets lit up in blues and reds as the police arrive first! I pick up Nick and carry him to the door as Yuri sees me coming. She unlocks the door as she looks at me.
Y: "Thank you Sparrow! What was wrong with him?"
B: "Drug." I say to her and she subtly nods. The police come over and start talking to Yuri as the ambulance arrives shortly after. I give them the run down of Nicks' actions as well as another sample of blood for them to test, the authorities could do with a heads up about what this drug actually is. Nick gets carted away as things get rapped up rather quickly as the ambulance goes off to take Nick to hospital and the police leave after they take our statements and have a general look around. Soon it's only me and Yuri again, she looks at me.
Y: "Thank you again with your help Botan, I just didn't really know what to do...that was so sudden."
B: "Don't mention it...here..." I hand her the sample as she looks at it.
Y: "Is that from the man?" She asks wearing a serious expression.
B: "Yeah, you and Sayori can look it over. You two are the brains after all..."
Y: "Very well then..." She pockets it as she looks at me again. "What's wrong? You look...rather sombre?"
B: "I knew that guy...Nick."
Y: "Were you friends or...?"
B: "Well, do you remember my first night in town?" Yuri thinks before she puts the pieces together.
Y: "Was that the man you helped?"
B: "It was. I told him to leave Yuri, and never come back. But..."
Y: "Did you think he was brought back here against his will?"
B: "He had two clear injection marks Yuri, one on his arm and another on his neck."
Y: "Hmmm...maybe he was jumped with that drug and let loose....like a guinea pig?"
B: "Maybe...or perhaps this was a message?"
Y: "What do you mean?"
B: "...the big man knows a lot Yuri, a whole lot more than we think he does." Yuri swallows as I sigh. "I need to get going, I have somewhere to be."
Y: "Oh okay, have a nice night! Thank you again!"
B: "Of course, see you later!" I swing away back home as I'm left feeling rather down. Poor Nick, I didn't wish to see him again but...to see him reduced to that? Is just sad... I arrive back home as I quickly head into the kitchen. I hope the food wasn't burnt! I check the food and see that it's...okay? It's fine I guess? I pull it out and look at it... you know what? I think that-
Knock! Knock!
There's two quick knocks at the door and then shortly a giggle?
M: "Guess who's back~" ….oh fuck! I throw the food into the bin quickly and spawn in some replacement food as Monika comes into the kitchen! "Hey honey, why are you in gear?"
B: "Oh? I was just helping Yuri is all!" She nods as she looks at the food.
M: "Awww, you really made some dinner for us~?" I just nod as I take off my mask.
B: "I guess..." Monika smiles as she sniffs the air?
M: "hmm? Funny?" She then checks the bin... "....ohoho! Did it not go right the first time?"
B: "Uhhhh...no comment?"
M: "ehehe! It's fine Botan! Don't worry about it!" She sits down as she rubs her head. "aww, what a day. What did Yuri want with you?" Monika looks a little....jealous? Is it? I can't really tell. "I'm not jealous Botan." ...oh...
B: "Sorry! I just...it's been a pretty rough night." I sit beside her as she rubs my back.
M: "How'd you mean? You look pretty upset?"
B: "I just...I went to the shop because a man was...well for a lack for a better word, crazy." Monika nods for me to continue. "Yuri didn't want to run off to get changed so she called upon me."
M: "Why you?" Monika asks rather sternly?
B: "I don't know? Maybe she thought I was best suited to deal with this? I went in there and well..."
M: "Well?"
B: "It's...it was the guy who I helped on my first night. He was drugged Monika. Probably dragged back here in this mess, taken away from the chance I gave him! I just...don't think that's fair at all..." Monika nods slowly.
M: "Well...was he okay or...?"
B: "He was crazy. Acting like a wild man. A primate. He was eating flowers Monika!" Monika sighs.
M: "Poor guy...what was his name?"
B: "Nick."
M: "Sigh...well? Did you get a sample of his blood or something else?"
B: "I did, it's just...I thought I really helped him Monika. I thought I gave him a way out but...it wasn't enough..." Monika rests her head against my shoulder.
M: "You tried Botan. You tried, and that's good enough for me."
B: "It's not good enough for me though. Nick deserved a life! He didn't deserve that! To be someone's guinea pig!"
M: "Just relax darling...just...it's okay..." I sigh as Monika smiles sadly. "Hey? How about we go lie down and eat this food okay? Let's just snuggle together while eating pizza huh?" She smiles as I nod.
B: "Okay..."
M: "Good boy..." She helps me up and takes the pizza as we go through to the other room to rest.
- Yuri's perspective -
Look at this mess! Was it too much for me to ask Botan to at least help me tidy this up? Sigh...I'm going to be here forever! As I'm sweeping the floor the lights suddenly come back on?
Y: "Huh?" I look at the lights as someone enters the store? "Hello?" …
A: "Boo!" I jump as I see Alex behind me?!
Y: "What?!"
S: "ehehe!" I see Sayori also come skipping in as I relax.
Y: "oh, guys don't do that!"
A: "Sorry Yuri! It was too good to let this pass! What's going on by the way? Why was the place dark, and why is it a mess?"
S: "Are you okay Yuri?"
Y: "I'm fine, it's just...well a man came in with some sort of drug in him." I show Sayori the sample Botan gave me.
S: "Huh? Is this his blood?"
Y: "Yes." Sayori takes it and has a look.
S: "hmmm, if it's a drug I'll find out what drug it is!"
Y: "Thank you."
A: "Did you hurt yourself at all?"
Y: "No I'm fine! I just got Botan to help me is all!"
A: "...I see?"
Y: "I didn't want to disturb your night out guys, after all...I know you two really want to build bridges again after that whole duplicate incident."
S: "Yeah, we're getting better. Slowly but getting there!"
A: "Yeah! Just a few more nights out and we're golden!"
Y: "Just don't try anything together..."
S: "ohoho! I wouldn't worry about it Yuri! I'm not about to steal your man away from you~"
Y: "What?! No! We're just friends!"
A: "Sayori, really??"
S: "Man you two are just hopeless...ah well! You want our help Yuri?"
A: "Yeah! We can help tidy up!"
Y: "That would be grand, thank you!" Alex heads off as does Sayori as I continue sweeping. The three of us focus on cleaning up for awhile as the shop looks a little better! A few minutes have passed and we've managed to pick up most of the destroyed products as well as mop up the floor. Sayori is busy re-arranging the flower display as I finish up collecting the rest of the ruined flowers. I smile as I dump the rest of them into the bin and turn around to see Alex moving a few boxes. I glance over to Sayori, she seems to have this faraway look in her eye? She seems sad? uuu, I want to say something to her but I don't want to say the wrong thing! I walk up to Alex as he looks at me.
A: "Hey Yuri, what's up?"
Y: "Um, it might be just me but.... have you noticed Sayori has been quiet for the past ten minutes or so?" We glance at her as she's smiling while looking at a few flowers.
A: "Well... yeah. I didn't want to say this in front of her but, tonight was one of her quiet nights." I look at him as Alex looks generally worried. "She was... you know?" I nod.
Y: "I see... her rainclouds must of came in again..."
A: "Yeah... I didn't want to provoke her in some way so I just let her be."
Y: "That's probably the right move, she might just be having one of her down days..." We look on in silence as Sayori suddenly turns around and smiles at us.
S: "Okay! I'm done here, what about you guys? Is there anything else to do??"
A: "Uh...Yuri?" I look around... everything seems to be in order? If not, I'll just sort it out for tomorrow.
Y: "It's fine! I think we've done everything we could! Thank you for your help guys~"
A: "Of course!"
S: "You're welcome!" Sayori smiles as she skips to the front door. "I'm going to go ahead a little early if that's okay, I'm rather tired..."
A: "Are you sure? We should go together, that way Coomer can't pick you off Sayori."
S: "It's okay! I'll get the bus! Thanks for your concern~"
A: "...right."
Y: "Well if you're sure, then goodnight Sayori~"
S: "Goodnight guys!" Sayori leaves and skips down the street.
A: "Well... we should think about leaving too."
Y: "Yeah... let me get my bag."
A: "Sure!" I head into the office to grab my things, only to notice the face in the corner of my eye! I turn to see nothing...uh? I could've sworn there was a face peaking into the shop? It might just be me, I've been very paranoid lately... Well, I'm sure it was nothing to worry about...
S: "sigh... so they both noticed me... I'm so fucking worthless..."
submitted by OneBoredMan02 to DDLC [link] [comments]
Sunday 24th June 2017
WARNING: THIS VOLUME CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE!
It's been ten days since Natsuki got kidnapped and held hostage by the recently arrived agents from Coomer. We beat them and promptly moved base to this little cabin like structure just at the outskirts of town, it's run down in places but it's nothing we can't fix up! Since last week nobody has reported any sightings of any Coomer agents which is expected, but I know it's just part of how they work. They look for a trial and follow it, until they find you. But when they do, they don't attack, they hang back for awhile and watch, waiting for a moment to take you by surprise. Stalking you. Assessing your strengths and weaknesses. Waiting for an opportunity. When they do make their move, they are quick. They are precise. They are calculating. They do not make mistakes. They do not get cocky. They do not let up for a second. That's why we all need to be on high alert and wide eyed. Hell, normal patrol is more dangerous now than ever! We just need to get permission and recognition from everybody else if we want to patrol for the night! Thankfully we came up with a secret code for the group chat, just in case that anybody that hacks into our group chat will not recognise what we are talking about right away. Basically we use emojis to let the others know about certain things, it's a code and it confuses me at the best of times. But Sayori did put this together on a whim so we should be just that little bit safer now. Right now I'm sitting in my apartment watching tv as I wait for Monika to come back from visiting her parents. She asked me if I wanted to come along but I declined her offer, I just want to rest a little bit from working hard to make the base for us. I had Sayori on my back telling me the various things she wanted, it was like her telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas! It was a ridiculous amount of things I had to make and it really took the wind out of my sails! So here I am, just relaxing I guess... I look at the tv show I was watching, it's some random programme about a teacher making drugs or something? I don't know about it, it's kinda funny I suppose, yet I can't really sit down and just enjoy it. In the back of my mind, I'm worried sick about Monika! She's been away for an hour now and I feel like it's been far too long for her to be out and not at least send me a text or whatever! But I shouldn't think too much of this, I'm just stressed out of my mind and very tired. I rub my eyes as I try to return back to the programme, but I just can't. Now that I've acknowledged the worry I can't get it out of my head! Fuck it! I toss away the remote and grab my phone, I'll just give her a text. Ask her how she's getting on with her parents. I shoot Monika a text in our chat reading:
'hey honey! just checking up on u and ur parents, how is it all going??' I set down my phone and wait for a reply...
one minute passes...
She still hasn't seen my text! Argh! Botan, give her time to pull out the phone and have a look at her notifications! She's with her parents for goodness sake, she can't just focus on me all the time! I need to settle down more! Maybe if I do some chores? I stand up and look around the apartment? What could I do? Maybe give the carpet a vacuum? Yeah! I head over to the closet, pull out the vacuum and bring it over to the centre of the living room. I turn it on and start the routine of clearing up the floor. I move the couch and get under it as I make my way around the room. Reaching into little corners and below the tv stand as I make sure everything's clean! I smile as I turn the vacuum off and see that the carpet is now much cleaner! I smile as I put the vacuum back into the closet. I then head back over to the couch and pick up my phone, Monika still hasn't seen my message? I'm getting concerned now, it's been unread for seven minutes, maybe I should phone her?? I go to select the call option but I stop myself, I am just....overreacting. Give her time. Maybe she left her phone in another room? She's at her parents' house after all? Or maybe she still hasn't gotten a chance to? Right, well what now?
…
Guess some dinner wouldn't hurt? I walk into the kitchen and have a look around the fridge for something to eat? Hmmm, maybe Monika would like something for when she gets back? I grab my phone and give her another text. 'would u like something 4 dinner?' I put my phone back into my pocket as I have another look. Guess I'll have some pizza with some chips! I take out a bag of frozen chips and a pepperoni and cheese pizza, setting them both onto the kitchen counter. I grab a tray for both pizza and fries and set them both out. I head over to the cooker and pre-heat the oven as I give it a minute or so. I then put my chips in first, followed by the pizza and close the oven door. Time to let them cook! I head back over to the living room and sit down. Got to give them time to cook, so what now? I look at the time, it's just coming up to eight? Hmmm, Monika did say she'll be back at around eight so....where is she? Botan! Stop it! I slap myself in the face! I really need to get a grip of myself! Maybe I can destress with a nice bath? Yeah, that will help! I walk into the kitchen and set a timer on the electronic clock for my food to be taken out. I then head into the bathroom and start running the bath. After a few minutes the bath is filled up and has plenty of bubbles going as I take off my clothes, here we go! I step in as the warm water quickly makes me jump in surprise at the heat! I then quickly get in as I relax. Oh yeah, this is much better! I smile, it's almost like I wasn't panicking about my girlfriend potentially going missing when she's out right now! ….urgh! I cover my face in water and take a deep breath. I just need to calm down. That's all. Monika can handle herself. The worse thing that could happen is that she gets killed and I never see her again...rgh! That temper I have, I almost forgot! Jeez, no more thoughts like that! Jesus, why did I even think of that?? Am I really wanting to push myself to burst out there and go looking for her? She's fine! As soon as I think that I hear my phone vibrate in the pocket of my shorts! Oh! That's probably her! I reach over to my towel, drying my hands before grabbing my phone. I take look at the message I just got, it's from Yuri?
Y: 'Hi Botan, I know this may seem a little short notice but can you please come down to the shop? I require your assistance with something' …sigh, fuck off man! I shake my head and chuck my phone away! Fucking Yuri! Why does she have to ask me of all people?! Why not her fucking boy toy?! sigh...calm down man. I'm losing it. Having no Monika around is really bad for me. She's the only thing keeping me from floating away from reason. With Coomer now here too, I guess it's all starting to pile up somewhat? Sigh...right. I pick my phone back up and send Yuri a text.
B: 'kk Yuri, give me 5 mins' I sigh as I sit up, so much for this bath? I quickly get out and dry myself off with a towel. I then walk out of the bathroom after pulling the plug on the bath, my phone vibrates again? I check it, another message from Yuri.
Y: 'thank you very much, please bring your best suit too!' ...oh right! I quickly dry off my hair and get in costume before running to the window-wait! I check on the timer in the kitchen, there's still around fifteen minutes to go? I turn the heat down to the minimum and make the adjust on the time, I just to be sure I don't want to burn down my new home. Monika would kill me. I leap out of the window into the dying light of the day! Okay, to the store! I don't know what's going on with Yuri but she might need my help! Although her texts were quite casual there? No matter! I swing into the air and land on a roof as I see the shop in the distance! Right, be ready for anything! I jump across a gap and leap off of a roof to see Yuri in front of the store? She looks....glum? I land not too far away from her as she looks at me, she doesn't look happy that's for sure? "Thanks for coming Sparrow." She's using my hero name?
B: "Of course citizen? What do you need?" I walk up to her as she looks around herself?
Y: "Uhm, well... there's a person in the store who's...well..." Yuri looks into the store and shivers? "I don't think he's mentally well at all..."
B: "What do you mean?" I look into the store as I spot a man? He's throwing things about in a crazed like fashion?
Y: "I would deal with this myself but..." Yuri whispers as she eyes one of the numerous cameras in the store. "I can't really run off and just come back you know?"
B: "I understand, well what do you think is wrong with him?" She shrugs?
Y: "He came in normal at first, he smiled and even said hello. Next thing I knew he started screaming all of sudden?" We look at the man as he climbs on top of the counter? "I've never seen anything like this before?"
B: "Calm down Yuri, I'll take care of it...did you call for police and an ambulance? This might be a drug related issue."
Y: "I have Sparrow don't worry. All the doors are locked so it will only be you and him in there. Just try not to make too much of a mess please?"
B: "Got it." I walk into the store slowly as most of the lights are off? I look back at Yuri who only locks the front door behind me and gives me an encouraging smile. I think she's a little scared to be in this type of situation. After all...it is very dark, and I'm not too fond of this situation already. I grab a torch from my pouch and get moving, the store just frozen in silence it seems? Okay, come on Botan. You got this. You've dealt with much worse things than just a potential drugged up man. This should be a piece of cake...hopefully? "Hello??" I call out rather nervously, but the silence I get in return just makes my spine shudder. "I'm here to help, please make yourself known!"
…
?: "YAH!!" A sudden scream comes from my left as I see the man on all fours quickly moving about between the stalls?! What the hell has gotten into him?! I look around before getting the good idea of zipping myself up to the roof to get a birds eye view of the whole store. I do just that and shine my torch downwards, quickly spotting the man huddled over some flowers as he eats them?? Jeez, this man's not right at all! He looks at me with a crazed look before slowly turning. "Ah! baga to yos!" He stares at me as he talks gibberish. "Joka in plot bin!" I just feel sorry as he stares at me, he needs serious help. "Ah! Yoga bob!" He picks up a candle and throws it at me! I'm able to get out the way but it lands me back onto the store floor and out of sight of the man. I can hear him moving about as I try to keep quiet, I need to get the jump on him. I don't want to hurt him of course, this could be some sort of episode he's suffering from? I spawn in some sleeping gas as I look around for him, just going to put to him to sleep so that I can start to look him over. This must be some- "Yawh!" The man jumps on my back as I stagger for a second! He hits me or rather slaps me in the head a few times before I grab his arm and throw him off of me! I'm not too hard as I only pull him off and get in front of me as he tries to scramble to his feet, but sadly for him I'm too quick as I hook his head and apply the gas to his mouth and nose. The man struggles at first but starts to slow down as he eyes close and then he's out. I set him down into the recovery position as I look at him. Poor guy, what was the cause of this? I look at his face as...hold on? I know this guy? That's....Nick! The guy who I saved on my first night here! What's he doing back here?! Nick looks a little worse for ware, his beard is a lot longer as is his hair. He looks like a wild man if anything. His clothes are rather nice though? I get a closer look at him as he breaths gently. I told him not to come back! Or...did he choose to come back? Maybe he was found by some of the big mans' guys? I look at Nick for any sign of some drug use, he couldn't have a mental condition like that? Soon I find two needle marks in both his neck and right arm? Two marks? Hmm, why did he get injected twice? What is this stuff? I take a capsule and a blood sample for later. Sayori and Yuri can take a look at that. If the drug runs in the blood then that will be where our answers lie. The room then gets lit up in blues and reds as the police arrive first! I pick up Nick and carry him to the door as Yuri sees me coming. She unlocks the door as she looks at me.
Y: "Thank you Sparrow! What was wrong with him?"
B: "Drug." I say to her and she subtly nods. The police come over and start talking to Yuri as the ambulance arrives shortly after. I give them the run down of Nicks' actions as well as another sample of blood for them to test, the authorities could do with a heads up about what this drug actually is. Nick gets carted away as things get rapped up rather quickly as the ambulance goes off to take Nick to hospital and the police leave after they take our statements and have a general look around. Soon it's only me and Yuri again, she looks at me.
Y: "Thank you again with your help Botan, I just didn't really know what to do...that was so sudden."
B: "Don't mention it...here..." I hand her the sample as she looks at it.
Y: "Is that from the man?" She asks wearing a serious expression.
B: "Yeah, you and Sayori can look it over. You two are the brains after all..."
Y: "Very well then..." She pockets it as she looks at me again. "What's wrong? You look...rather sombre?"
B: "I knew that guy...Nick."
Y: "Were you friends or...?"
B: "Well, do you remember my first night in town?" Yuri thinks before she puts the pieces together.
Y: "Was that the man you helped?"
B: "It was. I told him to leave Yuri, and never come back. But..."
Y: "Did you think he was brought back here against his will?"
B: "He had two clear injection marks Yuri, one on his arm and another on his neck."
Y: "Hmmm...maybe he was jumped with that drug and let loose....like a guinea pig?"
B: "Maybe...or perhaps this was a message?"
Y: "What do you mean?"
B: "...the big man knows a lot Yuri, a whole lot more than we think he does." Yuri swallows as I sigh. "I need to get going, I have somewhere to be."
Y: "Oh okay, have a nice night! Thank you again!"
B: "Of course, see you later!" I swing away back home as I'm left feeling rather down. Poor Nick, I didn't wish to see him again but...to see him reduced to that? Is just sad... I arrive back home as I quickly head into the kitchen. I hope the food wasn't burnt! I check the food and see that it's...okay? It's fine I guess? I pull it out and look at it... you know what? I think that-
Knock! Knock!
There's two quick knocks at the door and then shortly a giggle?
M: "Guess who's back~" ….oh fuck! I throw the food into the bin quickly and spawn in some replacement food as Monika comes into the kitchen! "Hey honey, why are you in gear?"
B: "Oh? I was just helping Yuri is all!" She nods as she looks at the food.
M: "Awww, you really made some dinner for us~?" I just nod as I take off my mask.
B: "I guess..." Monika smiles as she sniffs the air?
M: "hmm? Funny?" She then checks the bin... "....ohoho! Did it not go right the first time?"
B: "Uhhhh...no comment?"
M: "ehehe! It's fine Botan! Don't worry about it!" She sits down as she rubs her head. "aww, what a day. What did Yuri want with you?" Monika looks a little....jealous? Is it? I can't really tell. "I'm not jealous Botan." ...oh...
B: "Sorry! I just...it's been a pretty rough night." I sit beside her as she rubs my back.
M: "How'd you mean? You look pretty upset?"
B: "I just...I went to the shop because a man was...well for a lack for a better word, crazy." Monika nods for me to continue. "Yuri didn't want to run off to get changed so she called upon me."
M: "Why you?" Monika asks rather sternly?
B: "I don't know? Maybe she thought I was best suited to deal with this? I went in there and well..."
M: "Well?"
B: "It's...it was the guy who I helped on my first night. He was drugged Monika. Probably dragged back here in this mess, taken away from the chance I gave him! I just...don't think that's fair at all..." Monika nods slowly.
M: "Well...was he okay or...?"
B: "He was crazy. Acting like a wild man. A primate. He was eating flowers Monika!" Monika sighs.
M: "Poor guy...what was his name?"
B: "Nick."
M: "Sigh...well? Did you get a sample of his blood or something else?"
B: "I did, it's just...I thought I really helped him Monika. I thought I gave him a way out but...it wasn't enough..." Monika rests her head against my shoulder.
M: "You tried Botan. You tried, and that's good enough for me."
B: "It's not good enough for me though. Nick deserved a life! He didn't deserve that! To be someone's guinea pig!"
M: "Just relax darling...just...it's okay..." I sigh as Monika smiles sadly. "Hey? How about we go lie down and eat this food okay? Let's just snuggle together while eating pizza huh?" She smiles as I nod.
B: "Okay..."
M: "Good boy..." She helps me up and takes the pizza as we go through to the other room to rest.
- Yuri's perspective -
Look at this mess! Was it too much for me to ask Botan to at least help me tidy this up? Sigh...I'm going to be here forever! As I'm sweeping the floor the lights suddenly come back on?
Y: "Huh?" I look at the lights as someone enters the store? "Hello?" …
A: "Boo!" I jump as I see Alex behind me?!
Y: "What?!"
S: "ehehe!" I see Sayori also come skipping in as I relax.
Y: "oh, guys don't do that!"
A: "Sorry Yuri! It was too good to let this pass! What's going on by the way? Why was the place dark, and why is it a mess?"
S: "Are you okay Yuri?"
Y: "I'm fine, it's just...well a man came in with some sort of drug in him." I show Sayori the sample Botan gave me.
S: "Huh? Is this his blood?"
Y: "Yes." Sayori takes it and has a look.
S: "hmmm, if it's a drug I'll find out what drug it is!"
Y: "Thank you."
A: "Did you hurt yourself at all?"
Y: "No I'm fine! I just got Botan to help me is all!"
A: "...I see?"
Y: "I didn't want to disturb your night out guys, after all...I know you two really want to build bridges again after that whole duplicate incident."
S: "Yeah, we're getting better. Slowly but getting there!"
A: "Yeah! Just a few more nights out and we're golden!"
Y: "Just don't try anything together..."
S: "ohoho! I wouldn't worry about it Yuri! I'm not about to steal your man away from you~"
Y: "What?! No! We're just friends!"
A: "Sayori, really??"
S: "Man you two are just hopeless...ah well! You want our help Yuri?"
A: "Yeah! We can help tidy up!"
Y: "That would be grand, thank you!" Alex heads off as does Sayori as I continue sweeping. The three of us focus on cleaning up for awhile as the shop looks a little better! A few minutes have passed and we've managed to pick up most of the destroyed products as well as mop up the floor. Sayori is busy re-arranging the flower display as I finish up collecting the rest of the ruined flowers. I smile as I dump the rest of them into the bin and turn around to see Alex moving a few boxes. I glance over to Sayori, she seems to have this faraway look in her eye? She seems sad? uuu, I want to say something to her but I don't want to say the wrong thing! I walk up to Alex as he looks at me.
A: "Hey Yuri, what's up?"
Y: "Um, it might be just me but.... have you noticed Sayori has been quiet for the past ten minutes or so?" We glance at her as she's smiling while looking at a few flowers.
A: "Well... yeah. I didn't want to say this in front of her but, tonight was one of her quiet nights." I look at him as Alex looks generally worried. "She was... you know?" I nod.
Y: "I see... her rainclouds must of came in again..."
A: "Yeah... I didn't want to provoke her in some way so I just let her be."
Y: "That's probably the right move, she might just be having one of her down days..." We look on in silence as Sayori suddenly turns around and smiles at us.
S: "Okay! I'm done here, what about you guys? Is there anything else to do??"
A: "Uh...Yuri?" I look around... everything seems to be in order? If not, I'll just sort it out for tomorrow.
Y: "It's fine! I think we've done everything we could! Thank you for your help guys~"
A: "Of course!"
S: "You're welcome!" Sayori smiles as she skips to the front door. "I'm going to go ahead a little early if that's okay, I'm rather tired..."
A: "Are you sure? We should go together, that way Coomer can't pick you off Sayori."
S: "It's okay! I'll get the bus! Thanks for your concern~"
A: "...right."
Y: "Well if you're sure, then goodnight Sayori~"
S: "Goodnight guys!" Sayori leaves and skips down the street.
A: "Well... we should think about leaving too."
Y: "Yeah... let me get my bag."
A: "Sure!" I head into the office to grab my things, only to notice the face in the corner of my eye! I turn to see nothing...uh? I could've sworn there was a face peaking into the shop? It might just be me, I've been very paranoid lately... Well, I'm sure it was nothing to worry about...
S: "sigh... so they both noticed me... I'm so fucking worthless..."
2023.06.03 23:47 Smash_Fan-56 The easiest way Gabriel could’ve stolen the Miraculous.
Instead of using magic or brute force to take down the Bug and Cat Duo, Gabriel should’ve tried using science. If I were Hawk Moth, Shadow Moth, or Monarch, I would’ve akumatized a supervillain or created a Sentimonster not claim their jewels, but to steal a hair sample from both Ladybug and Cat Noir, so I could run a DNA test. Then, the test results would reveal their identities and I’d be able to track the two heroes down.
submitted by Smash_Fan-56 to miraculousladybug [link] [comments]
2023.06.03 23:47 MidniteStation The Thing in the Mirror Animated Horror Story
Animated version
I've always had a strange fascination with mirrors. Not just the way they reflect our image back to us, but the idea that they might hold some supernatural power. Since my younger days I believed that mirrors could be portals to another dimension, a place where the unknown and the terrifying reside.
But I never thought that my obsession would lead me down a path of true horror.
It all started when I found an old, ornate mirror at a garage sale. I couldn't resist its intricate design and the fact that it seemed to call out to me. I brought it home and hung it in my living room. At first, everything seemed normal. But as the days went on, I started to notice things on the reflective surface that shouldn't be there. The first time it happened I caught a glimpse of something in the mirror out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to look at it directly, it disappeared before I could properly register what I was seeing. I thought it was just my imagination playing tricks on me, but soon the visions in the reflection became more frequent and more detailed. Each time I had the mirror in my peripheral view I saw something twisted in the glass only for it to vanish when I turned towards it but the imagery was already burned into my mind. It was a grotesque face, staring at me with sinister intent. The eyes were black pits, and the mouth was a gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. The skin was gray and mottled, and the hair was long and stringy. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, and it filled me with a deep sense of dread.
I decided I had to do something about the mirror. So, I decided to board it up, to seal it off from the rest of the world. But even with the mirror gone, the visions didn't stop. Everywhere I looked, there was a reflective surface, Windows, car mirrors, even the surface of my phone screen, and in each one, I could glimpse the twisted figure, staring back at me. It was like it was following me, haunting me.
I couldn't take it anymore. I started to have public freakouts, seeing the dark figure everywhere and screaming at it to leave me alone. People thought I was crazy, and I couldn't blame them. But I knew the truth, the horrors on the other side of the mirror were still after me.
I could feel myself losing my sanity. I had to find a way to stop this, to close the portal and banish the creatures back to where they came from.
I knew I had to confront the mirror, to finally put an end to my torment. So, I unboarded the mirror and waited in front of it, determined to see the horrid figure once and for all.
And then, it happened. The twisted thing manifested in the glass, and I saw it clearly for the first time. But what I saw was not a creature from another dimension, not a being from another world. It was something else entirely.
The horror of the realization hit me like a freight train. The creature wasn't in the mirror, it never was. The mirror was never a gateway into another dimension. The thing I had been seeing was something that was attached to the back of my head.
I watched in horror as the creature silently emerged through my skin, tearing its way out of my face.
It began to writhe and twist. It looked around for a moment, as if it was taking in its surroundings. The atmosphere grew cold and with slow deliberation, the thing slowly rest its eyes upon me. I could neither move nor scream. I could not take my gaze from it nor quell the way it gripped my heart in a vice. It's lips suddenly stretched into what might have been a smile, an eerie expression full of knowing intent. It then burrowed back into my head, disappearing as if it had never been there.
I was left standing the in the empty room, my mind reeling with the horror of what had just occurred. For the first time I noticed I could feel it inside me, wriggling and squirming, making its way deeper and deeper into my body.
submitted by MidniteStation to nosleep [link] [comments]
I've always had a strange fascination with mirrors. Not just the way they reflect our image back to us, but the idea that they might hold some supernatural power. Since my younger days I believed that mirrors could be portals to another dimension, a place where the unknown and the terrifying reside.
But I never thought that my obsession would lead me down a path of true horror.
It all started when I found an old, ornate mirror at a garage sale. I couldn't resist its intricate design and the fact that it seemed to call out to me. I brought it home and hung it in my living room. At first, everything seemed normal. But as the days went on, I started to notice things on the reflective surface that shouldn't be there. The first time it happened I caught a glimpse of something in the mirror out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to look at it directly, it disappeared before I could properly register what I was seeing. I thought it was just my imagination playing tricks on me, but soon the visions in the reflection became more frequent and more detailed. Each time I had the mirror in my peripheral view I saw something twisted in the glass only for it to vanish when I turned towards it but the imagery was already burned into my mind. It was a grotesque face, staring at me with sinister intent. The eyes were black pits, and the mouth was a gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. The skin was gray and mottled, and the hair was long and stringy. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, and it filled me with a deep sense of dread.
I decided I had to do something about the mirror. So, I decided to board it up, to seal it off from the rest of the world. But even with the mirror gone, the visions didn't stop. Everywhere I looked, there was a reflective surface, Windows, car mirrors, even the surface of my phone screen, and in each one, I could glimpse the twisted figure, staring back at me. It was like it was following me, haunting me.
I couldn't take it anymore. I started to have public freakouts, seeing the dark figure everywhere and screaming at it to leave me alone. People thought I was crazy, and I couldn't blame them. But I knew the truth, the horrors on the other side of the mirror were still after me.
I could feel myself losing my sanity. I had to find a way to stop this, to close the portal and banish the creatures back to where they came from.
I knew I had to confront the mirror, to finally put an end to my torment. So, I unboarded the mirror and waited in front of it, determined to see the horrid figure once and for all.
And then, it happened. The twisted thing manifested in the glass, and I saw it clearly for the first time. But what I saw was not a creature from another dimension, not a being from another world. It was something else entirely.
The horror of the realization hit me like a freight train. The creature wasn't in the mirror, it never was. The mirror was never a gateway into another dimension. The thing I had been seeing was something that was attached to the back of my head.
I watched in horror as the creature silently emerged through my skin, tearing its way out of my face.
It began to writhe and twist. It looked around for a moment, as if it was taking in its surroundings. The atmosphere grew cold and with slow deliberation, the thing slowly rest its eyes upon me. I could neither move nor scream. I could not take my gaze from it nor quell the way it gripped my heart in a vice. It's lips suddenly stretched into what might have been a smile, an eerie expression full of knowing intent. It then burrowed back into my head, disappearing as if it had never been there.
I was left standing the in the empty room, my mind reeling with the horror of what had just occurred. For the first time I noticed I could feel it inside me, wriggling and squirming, making its way deeper and deeper into my body.
2023.06.03 23:44 pond_snail haircut recs? preferably on the longer side
i would rather not post a selfie but i am fat and have a round face. currently i have unstyled straight hair that's down to around my armpits in length, with a middle part. obviously this is not a stellar fashion choice regardless of gender so i want to change it, but outside of a general idea idk what to get. i don't really know anything about hairstyles so im not really sure where to start searching or narrowing down choices. im also nervous about making any huge changes since i've kept it this plain for so long, but im thinking of something around shoulder length on the masculine/androgynous side. i don't really care about what's trendy or in style so anything that fits that bill goes. if anyone has any ideas to share it would be hugely appreciated ^_^
submitted by pond_snail to ftm [link] [comments]
2023.06.03 23:37 miot_miot 18M UK. Boutta be stoned outta my mind. Let's be friends :)
The crazier the conversation the better. Open to anyone, preferably 17+ but after that the sky's the limit
Context about me in case you still wanna be friends after I sober up:
-Big on gaming -Have no idea what I'm really doing with my life -qualified mechanic ;) -running out of points, I'm pretty dull but I promise I'm fun occasionally -I love my car even tho it always breaks down on me :(
Come DM me and let a friendship flourish or however that bs goes. Hit me with the weirdest fact you know or anything crazy, I have fast replies ;)
submitted by miot_miot to MakeNewFriendsHere [link] [comments]
Context about me in case you still wanna be friends after I sober up:
-Big on gaming -Have no idea what I'm really doing with my life -qualified mechanic ;) -running out of points, I'm pretty dull but I promise I'm fun occasionally -I love my car even tho it always breaks down on me :(
Come DM me and let a friendship flourish or however that bs goes. Hit me with the weirdest fact you know or anything crazy, I have fast replies ;)
2023.06.03 23:36 Mindshred1 The Jewel of Eoza (Session 16)
The Cast:
Cheer the Boisterous, Tabaxi Monk: Cheer is a small Tabaxi with white fur and mismatched blue and green eyes. She is always seen in the company of her brother, Charles, and together, the two of them haunt the alleys outside the Al Walab Jeweler Guild, keeping other thieves away from their "territory."
Charles the Butcher, Tabaxi Rogue: Charles is a small Tabaxi with smoky black fur and mismatched blue and green eyes. He is always accompanied by his sister, Cheer, and together, the two of them haunt the alleys outside the Al Walab Jeweler Guild, keeping other thieves away from their "territory."
Calina St. Clair, Fire Genasi Wizard: Calina is the third child of the St. Clair merchants, an influential family of wealthy nobles in Al Walab. With her inheritance looking less and less likely with each passing year, she expanded her interests into arcane magic and cartography, hoping to find her own fortune in the world.
Honu Chorba, Tortle Ranger: Honu is a seasoned desert traveler who has spent much of his long life among the dunes. He joined the group to assist them in their journeys out of the belief that they would all get lost and die without him.
Reed Ha'saan, Human (Rashed) Artificer: Reed is a Rashed, nomads who wander the desert wastes. He's a tinker and a jeweler who is loosely affiliated with the Jeweler Guild of Al Walab, serving as a member in the (much looser and less prestigious) offshoot of the Guild among the Rashed. He's accompanied by a mechanical crab machine that he built.
Previous Session
Story: Upon returning to Al Walab, the group found themselves stopped at the gates, as the guards claimed that their previous "exempt from all charges" writ from the Sultan was no longer valid. Fortunately, they were able to intimidate the guards into letting them pass anyways.
Once in the city proper, the group immediately headed to Nafay Sabat's home to speak with Fatima. Once there, they removed her corpse from Reed's bag of holding and handed it over to the undying sorceress, much to her delight. She rewarded them with a box full of high-potency healing potions, as well as a blackened bone dagger that instantly killed and drained the life from anyone it rendered unconscious. Charles quickly claimed the knife, and then he and Cheer also claimed the box that everything had come in.
Fatima caught them up on current events in the city: apparently, her former advisor, Zeera, had found her way into the city and had been trying to seize control of the Thieves' Guild, and the battles between the two factions had spilled out onto the streets. Under the guise of restoring order, the Sultan had moved to seize the property of "collaborators," a thinly-veiled attempt to consolidate his power among the noble houses.
To capitalize upon the discord and unrest in the city, Fatima intended to have the group - under the illusionary guise of the sultan's guards - attack three beloved temples, those of Commerce, Love, and Mercy. While this was happening, Fatima planned to attack the Sultan's advisors, killing his most competent one while framing the second-most, ensuring that the Sultan's only advisor would be an idiot. This, in her opinion, would further destabilize the city and help convince the people that it was time for a new regime.
The group complimented her on the plan, then, once they had left Nafay's home, began to discuss whether or not they were actually on board with attacking three different temples of seemingly friendly priests. The discussion went back and forth, with neither of the Tabaxi particularly caring about the long-term fallout given that they only had about ten years of their short lives left. Honu, staring down a few centuries, was more concerned. Eventually, they decided that the risks of upsetting Fatima were too great to back out at this point, and they decided to visit the marketplace to do some shopping and restock on supplies.
At the market, they discovered that Avani, the Tabaxi they had rescued from the desert many months earlier, had taken Calina's initial investment in his business and turned it into a thriving travel emporium. He had driven many of his competitors out of business and had been cutting most of his rations with catnip, which was really driving product among the city's Tabaxi.
The group swung by the Aydeewa Academy so that Calina could purchase some spell components, only to discover that it now had guards, which were put in place by its new headmistress, Jasmine Musad. They were only allowing current students, faculty, and alumni inside, so Calina headed in alone, with Charles sneaking in alongside her. She was able to obtain from the spell components, but learned that Jasmine Musad had tightened regulations considerably and was running things with severe punishments in place for those who defied her authority.
After getting the components she needed, the group went to Calina's home, where they found a letter waiting for her. It bore the traces of magic, so she gave it to Charles to open outside under the suspicion that it would explode... which it did, raking lightning bolts everywhere. He was fortunately able to avoid them all with his quick reflexes. The group assumed that the letter had been sent by Saleel Arif and once again vowed to make him pay.
Calina then settled in to scribe some new spells into her book while the others scouted out the three temples they would be attacking earlier. The temple of Ishbal, the God of Commerce, was well defended by hired guards and priests wearing armor made from metal coins, while the temples of Hartema, Goddess of Mercy, and Rehema, Goddess of Love, seemed like softer targets, with only a few armored guards at the former and none at the latter.
Finally, Cheer, Charles, and Honu paid a visit to the dive bar in the slums that had serves as a meeting place for the Thieves' Guild to check in on things, only to discover that the crowd seemed to be people they hadn't seen before, all of them shifty and giving suspicious looks at the two Tabaxi. They managed to avoid getting attacked thanks to Honu's large presence and made a hasty retreat.
On their way back to Calina's estate, the three of them were stopped by an old man calling himself Devdan, who wanted to hire them to help investigate the Halls of Aldalla, a long-abandoned arcane school in the western desert. The group was suspicious of him, believing that he could be Saleel Arif in disguise, and set up a meeting with him in three days at a nearby fountain.
They returned to Calina's home to meet up with the others, and Cheer and Charles (the latter of whom was still banned from Calina's estate) spent the night sleeping outside the gate in their newly-acquired box.
In the morning, they paid Fatima another visit to discover her in her original body once more, now evidently restored to life. With her dark skin, long black hair, and green eyes peeking out from behind her black silk mask, she certainly overwhelmed the room with her presence. She cast a spell that cloaked the group in an illusion of the sultan's guards and set them loose to attack the indicated temples while she turned her attention to the sultan's advisors.
At this point, the group decided to split up so that they could quickly cut through the "undefended" temples and then regroup to focus their efforts on the temple of commerce. Calina and Cheer attacked the Temple of Rehema, the love goddess, but were surprised to find their former companion, Rivaan, among their number. Their initial assault killed a few of the unclothed priests, but when one of the worshipers transformed into a large snake with rainbow-colored wings, the battle began to turn against them. Calina ended up caught in the serpent's coils, and with the priests healing more damage than they were dealing, Cheer fled in search of assistance, leaving Calina behind.
Meanwhile, at the temple of mercy, Charles, Reed, and Honu came up with a plan to use poison to render one of the two guards unconscious and blind a second. The plan worked well... at first, until it was revealed that the guards were paladins who were capable of removing poisons from their bodies by laying hands upon themselves. Worse yet, the high priest called out to his goddess, Hartema, and animated four of the statues within the temple, providing additional warriors. With numbers against them, the group retreated to seek help... and soon encountered Cheer, who was doing the same.
Since Calina had been taken prisoner, the group returned to the temple of love, where the priests had healed many of their wounds and clad themselves in clothes and armor. Still in their illusionary disguises, the group fought with the priests, eventually killing them despite the numerous healing spells the priests used to tend to their wounds. Rivaan moved between the group, viciously attacking anyone who threatened his friends with the sunsword and poisoned dagger he had recovered months earlier. Eventually, the priests were killed and Rivaan was knocked unconscious. The winged snake attempted to grab Rivaan and fly to safety, but the group killed him at range with surprising spite for someone who had once been their friend.
The second battle at the temple had not gone unnoticed, however, and as the group frantically searched the temple for Calina's things, a mob of angry townsfolk surged into the temple grounds and pressed against its main gates. Honu held the door shut as Calina's spellbook, wand, and other items were eventually discovered, and they fled through a back window as the crowd pelted them with rocks and stones.
With their resources pushed to the limit and many of them wounded, the group pulled back to Calina's estate to rest and tend to their wounds. Only one of the temples had been slaughtered as Fatima had requested, and the group was torn between their doubts that they could take out the other two temples and their fears about what Fatima wound do to them if they failed her.
submitted by Mindshred1 to dndstories [link] [comments]
Cheer the Boisterous, Tabaxi Monk: Cheer is a small Tabaxi with white fur and mismatched blue and green eyes. She is always seen in the company of her brother, Charles, and together, the two of them haunt the alleys outside the Al Walab Jeweler Guild, keeping other thieves away from their "territory."
Charles the Butcher, Tabaxi Rogue: Charles is a small Tabaxi with smoky black fur and mismatched blue and green eyes. He is always accompanied by his sister, Cheer, and together, the two of them haunt the alleys outside the Al Walab Jeweler Guild, keeping other thieves away from their "territory."
Calina St. Clair, Fire Genasi Wizard: Calina is the third child of the St. Clair merchants, an influential family of wealthy nobles in Al Walab. With her inheritance looking less and less likely with each passing year, she expanded her interests into arcane magic and cartography, hoping to find her own fortune in the world.
Honu Chorba, Tortle Ranger: Honu is a seasoned desert traveler who has spent much of his long life among the dunes. He joined the group to assist them in their journeys out of the belief that they would all get lost and die without him.
Reed Ha'saan, Human (Rashed) Artificer: Reed is a Rashed, nomads who wander the desert wastes. He's a tinker and a jeweler who is loosely affiliated with the Jeweler Guild of Al Walab, serving as a member in the (much looser and less prestigious) offshoot of the Guild among the Rashed. He's accompanied by a mechanical crab machine that he built.
Previous Session
Story: Upon returning to Al Walab, the group found themselves stopped at the gates, as the guards claimed that their previous "exempt from all charges" writ from the Sultan was no longer valid. Fortunately, they were able to intimidate the guards into letting them pass anyways.
Once in the city proper, the group immediately headed to Nafay Sabat's home to speak with Fatima. Once there, they removed her corpse from Reed's bag of holding and handed it over to the undying sorceress, much to her delight. She rewarded them with a box full of high-potency healing potions, as well as a blackened bone dagger that instantly killed and drained the life from anyone it rendered unconscious. Charles quickly claimed the knife, and then he and Cheer also claimed the box that everything had come in.
Fatima caught them up on current events in the city: apparently, her former advisor, Zeera, had found her way into the city and had been trying to seize control of the Thieves' Guild, and the battles between the two factions had spilled out onto the streets. Under the guise of restoring order, the Sultan had moved to seize the property of "collaborators," a thinly-veiled attempt to consolidate his power among the noble houses.
To capitalize upon the discord and unrest in the city, Fatima intended to have the group - under the illusionary guise of the sultan's guards - attack three beloved temples, those of Commerce, Love, and Mercy. While this was happening, Fatima planned to attack the Sultan's advisors, killing his most competent one while framing the second-most, ensuring that the Sultan's only advisor would be an idiot. This, in her opinion, would further destabilize the city and help convince the people that it was time for a new regime.
The group complimented her on the plan, then, once they had left Nafay's home, began to discuss whether or not they were actually on board with attacking three different temples of seemingly friendly priests. The discussion went back and forth, with neither of the Tabaxi particularly caring about the long-term fallout given that they only had about ten years of their short lives left. Honu, staring down a few centuries, was more concerned. Eventually, they decided that the risks of upsetting Fatima were too great to back out at this point, and they decided to visit the marketplace to do some shopping and restock on supplies.
At the market, they discovered that Avani, the Tabaxi they had rescued from the desert many months earlier, had taken Calina's initial investment in his business and turned it into a thriving travel emporium. He had driven many of his competitors out of business and had been cutting most of his rations with catnip, which was really driving product among the city's Tabaxi.
The group swung by the Aydeewa Academy so that Calina could purchase some spell components, only to discover that it now had guards, which were put in place by its new headmistress, Jasmine Musad. They were only allowing current students, faculty, and alumni inside, so Calina headed in alone, with Charles sneaking in alongside her. She was able to obtain from the spell components, but learned that Jasmine Musad had tightened regulations considerably and was running things with severe punishments in place for those who defied her authority.
After getting the components she needed, the group went to Calina's home, where they found a letter waiting for her. It bore the traces of magic, so she gave it to Charles to open outside under the suspicion that it would explode... which it did, raking lightning bolts everywhere. He was fortunately able to avoid them all with his quick reflexes. The group assumed that the letter had been sent by Saleel Arif and once again vowed to make him pay.
Calina then settled in to scribe some new spells into her book while the others scouted out the three temples they would be attacking earlier. The temple of Ishbal, the God of Commerce, was well defended by hired guards and priests wearing armor made from metal coins, while the temples of Hartema, Goddess of Mercy, and Rehema, Goddess of Love, seemed like softer targets, with only a few armored guards at the former and none at the latter.
Finally, Cheer, Charles, and Honu paid a visit to the dive bar in the slums that had serves as a meeting place for the Thieves' Guild to check in on things, only to discover that the crowd seemed to be people they hadn't seen before, all of them shifty and giving suspicious looks at the two Tabaxi. They managed to avoid getting attacked thanks to Honu's large presence and made a hasty retreat.
On their way back to Calina's estate, the three of them were stopped by an old man calling himself Devdan, who wanted to hire them to help investigate the Halls of Aldalla, a long-abandoned arcane school in the western desert. The group was suspicious of him, believing that he could be Saleel Arif in disguise, and set up a meeting with him in three days at a nearby fountain.
They returned to Calina's home to meet up with the others, and Cheer and Charles (the latter of whom was still banned from Calina's estate) spent the night sleeping outside the gate in their newly-acquired box.
In the morning, they paid Fatima another visit to discover her in her original body once more, now evidently restored to life. With her dark skin, long black hair, and green eyes peeking out from behind her black silk mask, she certainly overwhelmed the room with her presence. She cast a spell that cloaked the group in an illusion of the sultan's guards and set them loose to attack the indicated temples while she turned her attention to the sultan's advisors.
At this point, the group decided to split up so that they could quickly cut through the "undefended" temples and then regroup to focus their efforts on the temple of commerce. Calina and Cheer attacked the Temple of Rehema, the love goddess, but were surprised to find their former companion, Rivaan, among their number. Their initial assault killed a few of the unclothed priests, but when one of the worshipers transformed into a large snake with rainbow-colored wings, the battle began to turn against them. Calina ended up caught in the serpent's coils, and with the priests healing more damage than they were dealing, Cheer fled in search of assistance, leaving Calina behind.
Meanwhile, at the temple of mercy, Charles, Reed, and Honu came up with a plan to use poison to render one of the two guards unconscious and blind a second. The plan worked well... at first, until it was revealed that the guards were paladins who were capable of removing poisons from their bodies by laying hands upon themselves. Worse yet, the high priest called out to his goddess, Hartema, and animated four of the statues within the temple, providing additional warriors. With numbers against them, the group retreated to seek help... and soon encountered Cheer, who was doing the same.
Since Calina had been taken prisoner, the group returned to the temple of love, where the priests had healed many of their wounds and clad themselves in clothes and armor. Still in their illusionary disguises, the group fought with the priests, eventually killing them despite the numerous healing spells the priests used to tend to their wounds. Rivaan moved between the group, viciously attacking anyone who threatened his friends with the sunsword and poisoned dagger he had recovered months earlier. Eventually, the priests were killed and Rivaan was knocked unconscious. The winged snake attempted to grab Rivaan and fly to safety, but the group killed him at range with surprising spite for someone who had once been their friend.
The second battle at the temple had not gone unnoticed, however, and as the group frantically searched the temple for Calina's things, a mob of angry townsfolk surged into the temple grounds and pressed against its main gates. Honu held the door shut as Calina's spellbook, wand, and other items were eventually discovered, and they fled through a back window as the crowd pelted them with rocks and stones.
With their resources pushed to the limit and many of them wounded, the group pulled back to Calina's estate to rest and tend to their wounds. Only one of the temples had been slaughtered as Fatima had requested, and the group was torn between their doubts that they could take out the other two temples and their fears about what Fatima wound do to them if they failed her.
2023.06.03 23:34 EbonyBetty Rant + Seeking Advice: Black Hair w/ ADHD
Even though a majority of this is venting the primary reason for this post is that I'm desperate for advice. But because I had a bit of a breakdown today, the rant comes first (there's a TL;DAsking for Advice at the bottom). Out of sadness and frustration, I almost impulsively gave myself "The Big Chop" that knew I would regret.
The upkeep for my hair is so damn exhausting that if I'm being honest with myself, I really hate my hair. My biggest issue is I am "blessed" with a lot of it, that 4a "good hair." Growing up most of the compliments on my appearance were about my hair: "Baby your hair comes from good genes!"/"Your hair is so long and pretty, gimme some!"/"Brothas love a Sista with long hair, even better that it's natural!" And I will admit, when my hair's fresh from the hairdresser, I look really nice. When my hair is done, it's one of the few physical features I like about myself. We all know the cultural weight of hair in the Black community.
Y'all also know Black hair's upkeep without ADHD is extensive, expensive, and exhausting, so with ADHD it's fucking impossible. Washing, Conditioning, Brushing, Combing-it-out, Flat-Ironing, Oiling, Greasing down the Edges, IT'S ALL TOO FUCKING MUCH! As an adult, I came to peace with myself early on that I would always pay the "ADHD Tax" of having to get my hair done at hairdressers. Payment for the salon is on par with the electric bill...
Until this month. As I was doing my budgeting for June, my rent's gone up 22% and with inflation continuing to hit hard means I cannot afford to get my hair done this month. So I tried to do it myself. I was already emotionally drained after washing and conditioning my hair, now I had to start the worst part - combing it out. Because of my ADHD, as embarrassed as I am to say it, I don't brush out my hair every night. When I get to the tail end of the month, I usually throw on a head scarf and keep moving, which leads to matted hair and tangles (plus I'm tender-headed, God has a sick sense of humor). Just parting my hair into four sections, I could feel my panic setting it. Every tangle I tugged at, my brain played every memory of my mama or aunt's telling me how lazy I am for not taking care of my hair and that I'm gonna end up bald. An hour and half later, I only have one section done. My head hurts and I'm so frustrated and ashamed. I grabbed my roommate's wig scissors and cut off the current tangle I'm on. IMMEDIATELY, I audibly said, "WTF am I doing!" then burst into tears.
I swallowed my pride and called my mom (our relationship is strained, at best) and asked if she could comb my hair out for me. While she accepted it, of course, it came with the usual chiding: "Most girls take of their hair, why don't you?"/"Your hair is your best feature, you need to learn how self-care."/"You're a grown women, I knew how to take care of my hair at your age." I feel so defeated and today's been the fucking worst.
TL;DAsking for Advice: So please, do you have any tutorials, hairstyle suggestions, or upkeep tips I can use for my hair that's easy-to-learn or ADHD-friendly. Or at least advice on how you're able to not get overwhelmed during upkeep? My biggest hurdles are combing out my hair and parting/oiling it (my scalp dries out very easily). Please no hairstyles that require braiding or flat-ironing. My hair is 3\4 natural with a quarter of relaxer left. Please do not suggest I cut my hair to a shorter length, it's not I oppose it, but it's complicated.
submitted by EbonyBetty to blackladies [link] [comments]
The upkeep for my hair is so damn exhausting that if I'm being honest with myself, I really hate my hair. My biggest issue is I am "blessed" with a lot of it, that 4a "good hair." Growing up most of the compliments on my appearance were about my hair: "Baby your hair comes from good genes!"/"Your hair is so long and pretty, gimme some!"/"Brothas love a Sista with long hair, even better that it's natural!" And I will admit, when my hair's fresh from the hairdresser, I look really nice. When my hair is done, it's one of the few physical features I like about myself. We all know the cultural weight of hair in the Black community.
Y'all also know Black hair's upkeep without ADHD is extensive, expensive, and exhausting, so with ADHD it's fucking impossible. Washing, Conditioning, Brushing, Combing-it-out, Flat-Ironing, Oiling, Greasing down the Edges, IT'S ALL TOO FUCKING MUCH! As an adult, I came to peace with myself early on that I would always pay the "ADHD Tax" of having to get my hair done at hairdressers. Payment for the salon is on par with the electric bill...
Until this month. As I was doing my budgeting for June, my rent's gone up 22% and with inflation continuing to hit hard means I cannot afford to get my hair done this month. So I tried to do it myself. I was already emotionally drained after washing and conditioning my hair, now I had to start the worst part - combing it out. Because of my ADHD, as embarrassed as I am to say it, I don't brush out my hair every night. When I get to the tail end of the month, I usually throw on a head scarf and keep moving, which leads to matted hair and tangles (plus I'm tender-headed, God has a sick sense of humor). Just parting my hair into four sections, I could feel my panic setting it. Every tangle I tugged at, my brain played every memory of my mama or aunt's telling me how lazy I am for not taking care of my hair and that I'm gonna end up bald. An hour and half later, I only have one section done. My head hurts and I'm so frustrated and ashamed. I grabbed my roommate's wig scissors and cut off the current tangle I'm on. IMMEDIATELY, I audibly said, "WTF am I doing!" then burst into tears.
I swallowed my pride and called my mom (our relationship is strained, at best) and asked if she could comb my hair out for me. While she accepted it, of course, it came with the usual chiding: "Most girls take of their hair, why don't you?"/"Your hair is your best feature, you need to learn how self-care."/"You're a grown women, I knew how to take care of my hair at your age." I feel so defeated and today's been the fucking worst.
TL;DAsking for Advice: So please, do you have any tutorials, hairstyle suggestions, or upkeep tips I can use for my hair that's easy-to-learn or ADHD-friendly. Or at least advice on how you're able to not get overwhelmed during upkeep? My biggest hurdles are combing out my hair and parting/oiling it (my scalp dries out very easily). Please no hairstyles that require braiding or flat-ironing. My hair is 3\4 natural with a quarter of relaxer left. Please do not suggest I cut my hair to a shorter length, it's not I oppose it, but it's complicated.
2023.06.03 23:32 sjanevardsson Damned Bureaucracy
The small cargo ship, in the default medium grey, was wholly unremarkable. The same and similar made up the fleets of corporate and private couriers, with the result that it was not surprising to see it anywhere.
The anonymity and ability to blend in served Sidra well…usually. This station, run by the hyper-bureaucratic aslodzhins was the exception. The “bugs,” as many humans called them, had their own ways of doing things and didn’t like a “squishy,” as they called humans and other endoskeletal beings in their own language, upsetting the order.
“Private vessel Hobby Horse, please state the purpose of your visit and expected duration.”
“Station 47 control, I say again: PV Hobby Horse requesting permission to dock in an out-of-the-way small cargo dock for fueling. Expected visit duration no more than a week…seven standard days, but no less than an hour.”
“PV Hobby Horse, docking for fuel cleared at Lock 7-16. All passengers and crew are required to wait inside the vehicle until security arrives to clear you. …Cracked-shell squishy thinks they can—” The controller’s voice cut out as they must have noticed they were still transmitting.
“Thank you, station 47 control. Docking at Lock 7-16. Squishy out….”
Sidra expected one or two security to show up to clear her to enter the station, instead, there were a dozen. She opened the airlock and waited inside. “Come on in.”
The leader, obvious by the shiny, silver emblem in the center of its blast armor, stepped in, followed by two others that made a quick inspection of the ship to verify the claim of no other persons aboard. The brown color of the leader’s head carapace marked them as a drone, while the black carapaces were male and bright blue were female.
Sidra extended a hand. “Sidra Boston; captain, owner, pilot, and sole crew of the Hobby Horse. Welcome to my home.”
“Sub-adjutant-lieutenant-detachment-commander Slivdzak.” The officer looked at her extended hand and grasped it with one their six manipulators.
“Pleasure to meet you, Slivdzak. How can I help?” Sidra felt a secret rush of joy at the way the officer tried and failed to hide their discomfort. She knew that the lack of carapace was as disconcerting to them as the feel of a surprise tarantula crawling on the neck was to humans.
“Captain Sidra Boston—”
“Please, just call me Sid. Drop all the Captain and Boston stuff.”
“Sid, you have not made clear the purpose of your ‘one-hour to seven-day’ stay. Please elaborate.”
“I’m meeting someone here and taking them home.”
The officer looked at a small device it carried. A hologram rose from it, her close-cropped black hair, medium-brown skin, large, green eyes, and humped nose obvious. Beneath the hologram was writing in the bugs’ script. “Are you not a hunter of bounties?”
“Well, if that’s what you want to call it, I guess.”
“Such activity is only allowed in teams of three or more by aslodzhin law 9314-27.664 and safety regulations 647-88.932 and 90991-17.0. In addition, at least one of the team must be aslodzhin.”
“That’s kind of speciesist, isn’t it?”
“The courts have allowed for permanent residents of aslodzhin space to fill the requirements where applicable, in accordance with Galactic Union Resolution on the Rights of Sapients, 74.23.08 Paragraph 12.”
“Great, good to hear. Problem is, I work alone and I’m not after a bug.” She shrugged. “You know how we squishies are.”
“Station command has already decreed that you are not to leave your vessel without the two members chosen for you.” The officer raised to its full height, its head carapace close to scraping the ceiling. “Your team will be here soon. Good day, Captain Sidra Boston.”
“Good day, sub-whatever-whatchamacallit Sliv.”
After the security detail left, she stepped out of the ship to check on the refueling. No sooner had her foot set down outside the airlock than she found herself in the crosshairs of two armed security guards that had been standing out of sight.
“They aren’t kidding about not leaving without a team, huh? Damned bureaucracy.” She stepped back inside the ship and sat on the floor to await her babysitters.
When her team arrived, she was surprised by the presence of the furred, six-limbed hikarin hemi-male. He was easily head and shoulders taller than her, but slight of build, and thin-boned, coming from a lower-gravity world.
The aslodzhin female didn’t surprise her, even in her law enforcement uniform. She wore a red symbol on the chest of her uniform.
Sidra stood. “Okay guys, I’m Sid, and this is my job. You do what I say and stay out of the way we’ll get along fine. You,” she said, pointing at the aslodzhin female, “change out of that uniform. You’ll scare off my skip.”
“Sid, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m senior-squad-chief Dliz, and this is Soolyasin.” Dliz extended a manipulator for a shake and Sidra obliged. Dliz’s compound eyes rotated in a way Sidra didn’t know they could, and she showed frank wonder at the feel of a hand in her manipulator. “Could you do that again?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“You moved your hand, and I could feel the muscles flex…yes! That’s it!” Dliz laughed. “That’s the neatest feeling ever!”
“Am I the first squishy you’ve met?”
“Oh, no. I’ve known Sool since I was a nymph.” Dliz continued to hold on to Sidra’s hand.
“How about humans?” Sidra raised an eyebrow and tried to extricate herself from the increasingly awkward handshake.
“Yes. I mean, I’ve seen plenty passing through, but never met one.” Dliz let go and uttered a quiet apology.
Soolyasin stepped forward. He was dressed in technician’s clothes, complete with tool belt. “You’ll have to forgive Dliz. She’s a fan of bounty hunters in general, and you in particular.”
“Shush.” Dliz stood straight up at attention on her four hind legs, her head scraping the ceiling, her three left manipulators raised in a salute. “What are your orders, Sid?”
“First order of business, you need to lose the uniform and dress in something less conspicuous. Sool, is that a disguise?”
“No, these are my work clothes. When Dliz called I ran straight here.”
“That’s fine. You’ll blend in, no trouble.” Sidra put on a ballistic vest and covered it with a loose jacket. She checked that she had cuffs, shackles, bench warrant, and badge.
She turned toward Dliz. “Do you have a ballistic vest?”
“I have a carapace; I’m not a squishy.”
“Will your carapace stop a slug from a weapon like this?” Sidra held up a high-powered, 6mm rifle.
“Um, no. I have armor, though.”
“Can you wear it under clothes?”
“Yes, but it’s against the regulations.”
“Screw the rules, wear your armor…under your clothes.” She muttered under her breath, “Damned bureaucracy.”
Sidra turned toward Soolyasin. “I think I have a vest that’ll fit you.”
He looked at Sidra, then Dliz, then back again. “Is it going to be that dangerous?”
Sidra showed them the bench warrant. Soolyasin’s eyes grew wide and Dliz’s eyes rolled in a different way to earlier. Sidra thought she might be able to read bug emotions if this kept up.
“You were going after a turgen terrorist by yourself?” he asked.
“Still am. Just don’t want to see my babysitters get hurt.” She turned to look at Dliz. “Dliz, relax. You don’t have to stand at attention. I need you to tell me which of these weapons you’ll let me carry on the station.”
Dliz settled back down onto six legs and looked over the cabinet Sidra had unlocked. In addition to the rifle, she had pistols, tasers, batons, knives, and a shotgun with less-lethal beanbag loads along with standard loads.
“Which of them are capable of breaching the station hull?”
“The 6-mil, and the shotgun, if I loaded it with steel shot or slugs instead of beanbags.” She didn’t mention that the 10mm pistols were just as likely to do the same damage, but she wasn’t going out without at least one lethal weapon.
“In that case, leave the rifle and lethal shotgun rounds behind. I’ll be carrying a beam weapon, too, so we should be covered.”
“What about me?” Soolyasin asked.
“The only thing I need you to do is stay out of the way. Unless I need some inconspicuous eyes in the bay.”
After fitting Soolyasin with a ballistic vest and Dliz getting into civilian clothes over her armor, much to her dismay, they moved to the main cargo bays where they expected their quarry to show. Sidra positioned them so that she could watch arrivals, Dliz could watch her back, and Soolyasin could stay well out of the way unless and until needed.
The first hour went by at glacial speed, with constant interruptions from Dliz and Soolyasin asking questions or pointing at every passerby that might be a turgen in disguise. The next two hours dragged compared to the first.
It was in the middle of the fourth hour that Sidra got notice that the ship carrying her quarry was docking. She moved them to cover the lock where it pulled in, granting them a view on both the personnel airlock and the cargo airlock.
A much smaller contingent of security met the ship, cleared the crew for the station, and left. Four crewmembers, all turgen, filed off. Larger than humans in bulk, grey skin covered with hard dermal denticles, they had two arms, two legs, the remnants of a dorsal fin, and a long, flat tail with which they could do bone-breaking damage.
Sidra waited. If he was going to sneak off the ship, he’d need to do it soon. When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to get out on his own, she radioed Soolyasin.
“Okay, Sool. It’s clear around the ship. Just carry your tool case and walk onboard like you belong there. You’ve seen his picture, if you see him, run. If there’s anyone else on the ship, just tell them you’re checking the fuel gauges because of some regulation or other.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. You got this, and I’ve got your back.”
Soolyasin walked onto the ship, and they could hear him in their headsets, “Hello? Anyone here? I need to check your fuel gauges. Hello?”
A few quiet moments passed before Soolyasin spoke up again. “There’s no one else here,” he said, “I’m co—” His voice was cut off by the sound of a heavy thud.
Sidra ran for the ship, pulling her shotgun into firing position and cycling a round into the chamber. She stopped at the door of the ship and called inside. “Give it up, Otto. The only way you’re leaving here is in cuffs.”
When she didn’t hear anything else, she moved to clear the corners. She looked right where the door to the cockpit was closed. She swiveled around to check the other side only to find it empty as well. “Dliz, move up and cover the exit. The cargo airlock hasn’t been cycled, so this is the only way off.”
She began to move down the passageway when she heard the cockpit door click behind her. She swung around a delivered a 12-gauge beanbag into Otto’s gut at near point-blank range. Rather than stopping him, it enraged him. He turned and swiped at her with his tail.
Sidra tried to dodge out the way, but he managed to knock the shotgun out of her hands. He picked it up and threw it behind himself into the cockpit, next to the limp form of Soolyasin. “Time to go away, bounty hunter.”
He began to move toward her. When he stepped in front of the open door, he was met with a concentrated beam of infrared energy that forced him to jump back. “Listen, soft-skin. You leave now, and I’ll throw your friend out. It’s your one chance to leave alive.”
She drew her 10mm pistol and pointed it at him. “And if I don’t?”
He started toward her again, then stopped when the beam almost connected. “I’ll start by killing your furry friend, then your trigger-happy friend, then you…but nice and slow. There’s no way you’re taking me to a human prison.”
Sidra couldn’t see Dliz, but from the angle of the last beam, she’d moved to where she had more coverage of the passageway toward the cockpit. She knew that if he wanted, he could ignore the burns and rush her, crushing her carapace in a thousand different ways. Her shotgun was far out of reach, not to mention ineffective, but the 10mm pistol was a comforting weight in her hand.
Otto turned his back on her, his tail swishing wildly, smashing against the bulkheads on each side of the passage. “Very well, then. On to killing your furry friend first.”
“I’m warning you, Otto, these are lethal rounds. Put your hands behind your head, your tail between your legs, and drop to your knees.”
By the time Otto had taken a step, Sidra had taken aim and fired a shot into his torso and another into his thigh. He stopped and turned to look at her, bright pink blood running down his leg and back. He laughed. “You’re going to be so much fun.”
The courts tended to look down on spinal injuries, but when a round in the torso and thigh didn’t slow him down, she didn’t feel like she had much choice. She took aim again and fired at the base of his tail. His tail dropped like a dead weight, and he cried out.
The pain dropped him to his knees. Sidra finished the motion by jumping between his shoulder blades to put him flat on the deck. She cuffed his hands behind his back, and secured his ankles with shackles before motioning Dliz to come in.
“Call for medical for Sool and for the idiot here.”
Dliz made the call and medical teams arrived in less than a minute.
“Damn,” Sidra said, “I guess bureaucracy is good for something after all.”
Soolyasin was awake by the time he was loaded onto a stretcher. There didn’t seem to be any broken bones, but he’d been thrown rather hard by Otto’s tail strike. “Sorry I wasn’t any help,” he said.
“Nonsense. I’m sorry I sent you in there and you got hurt. I’m splitting the bounty three ways, even across with both of you.”
“I can’t take any payment,” Dliz said. “It’s against the regulations for police to have any outside earnings.”
“You saved my bacon, though. If you hadn’t been enough of an inconvenience with the beam, he would’ve tail swiped me before I could draw.”
“Still can’t accept any payments or monetary gifts.”
“How about this? You two have been friends forever, right? I’ll pay your portion to Sool, and he can treat you to fancy dinners for the rest of your life.”
“Wha...how much is the bounty?”
“Three-point-seven million Terran credits. About sixteen million galactic.”
Dliz’s eyes rolled in yet another motion. “Damned bureaucracy.”
Reedsy Prompt: Write about someone who has always done something as part of a group, and is now starting to set out solo, or vice versa.
Story published here.
submitted by sjanevardsson to HFY [link] [comments]
The anonymity and ability to blend in served Sidra well…usually. This station, run by the hyper-bureaucratic aslodzhins was the exception. The “bugs,” as many humans called them, had their own ways of doing things and didn’t like a “squishy,” as they called humans and other endoskeletal beings in their own language, upsetting the order.
“Private vessel Hobby Horse, please state the purpose of your visit and expected duration.”
“Station 47 control, I say again: PV Hobby Horse requesting permission to dock in an out-of-the-way small cargo dock for fueling. Expected visit duration no more than a week…seven standard days, but no less than an hour.”
“PV Hobby Horse, docking for fuel cleared at Lock 7-16. All passengers and crew are required to wait inside the vehicle until security arrives to clear you. …Cracked-shell squishy thinks they can—” The controller’s voice cut out as they must have noticed they were still transmitting.
“Thank you, station 47 control. Docking at Lock 7-16. Squishy out….”
Sidra expected one or two security to show up to clear her to enter the station, instead, there were a dozen. She opened the airlock and waited inside. “Come on in.”
The leader, obvious by the shiny, silver emblem in the center of its blast armor, stepped in, followed by two others that made a quick inspection of the ship to verify the claim of no other persons aboard. The brown color of the leader’s head carapace marked them as a drone, while the black carapaces were male and bright blue were female.
Sidra extended a hand. “Sidra Boston; captain, owner, pilot, and sole crew of the Hobby Horse. Welcome to my home.”
“Sub-adjutant-lieutenant-detachment-commander Slivdzak.” The officer looked at her extended hand and grasped it with one their six manipulators.
“Pleasure to meet you, Slivdzak. How can I help?” Sidra felt a secret rush of joy at the way the officer tried and failed to hide their discomfort. She knew that the lack of carapace was as disconcerting to them as the feel of a surprise tarantula crawling on the neck was to humans.
“Captain Sidra Boston—”
“Please, just call me Sid. Drop all the Captain and Boston stuff.”
“Sid, you have not made clear the purpose of your ‘one-hour to seven-day’ stay. Please elaborate.”
“I’m meeting someone here and taking them home.”
The officer looked at a small device it carried. A hologram rose from it, her close-cropped black hair, medium-brown skin, large, green eyes, and humped nose obvious. Beneath the hologram was writing in the bugs’ script. “Are you not a hunter of bounties?”
“Well, if that’s what you want to call it, I guess.”
“Such activity is only allowed in teams of three or more by aslodzhin law 9314-27.664 and safety regulations 647-88.932 and 90991-17.0. In addition, at least one of the team must be aslodzhin.”
“That’s kind of speciesist, isn’t it?”
“The courts have allowed for permanent residents of aslodzhin space to fill the requirements where applicable, in accordance with Galactic Union Resolution on the Rights of Sapients, 74.23.08 Paragraph 12.”
“Great, good to hear. Problem is, I work alone and I’m not after a bug.” She shrugged. “You know how we squishies are.”
“Station command has already decreed that you are not to leave your vessel without the two members chosen for you.” The officer raised to its full height, its head carapace close to scraping the ceiling. “Your team will be here soon. Good day, Captain Sidra Boston.”
“Good day, sub-whatever-whatchamacallit Sliv.”
After the security detail left, she stepped out of the ship to check on the refueling. No sooner had her foot set down outside the airlock than she found herself in the crosshairs of two armed security guards that had been standing out of sight.
“They aren’t kidding about not leaving without a team, huh? Damned bureaucracy.” She stepped back inside the ship and sat on the floor to await her babysitters.
When her team arrived, she was surprised by the presence of the furred, six-limbed hikarin hemi-male. He was easily head and shoulders taller than her, but slight of build, and thin-boned, coming from a lower-gravity world.
The aslodzhin female didn’t surprise her, even in her law enforcement uniform. She wore a red symbol on the chest of her uniform.
Sidra stood. “Okay guys, I’m Sid, and this is my job. You do what I say and stay out of the way we’ll get along fine. You,” she said, pointing at the aslodzhin female, “change out of that uniform. You’ll scare off my skip.”
“Sid, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m senior-squad-chief Dliz, and this is Soolyasin.” Dliz extended a manipulator for a shake and Sidra obliged. Dliz’s compound eyes rotated in a way Sidra didn’t know they could, and she showed frank wonder at the feel of a hand in her manipulator. “Could you do that again?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“You moved your hand, and I could feel the muscles flex…yes! That’s it!” Dliz laughed. “That’s the neatest feeling ever!”
“Am I the first squishy you’ve met?”
“Oh, no. I’ve known Sool since I was a nymph.” Dliz continued to hold on to Sidra’s hand.
“How about humans?” Sidra raised an eyebrow and tried to extricate herself from the increasingly awkward handshake.
“Yes. I mean, I’ve seen plenty passing through, but never met one.” Dliz let go and uttered a quiet apology.
Soolyasin stepped forward. He was dressed in technician’s clothes, complete with tool belt. “You’ll have to forgive Dliz. She’s a fan of bounty hunters in general, and you in particular.”
“Shush.” Dliz stood straight up at attention on her four hind legs, her head scraping the ceiling, her three left manipulators raised in a salute. “What are your orders, Sid?”
“First order of business, you need to lose the uniform and dress in something less conspicuous. Sool, is that a disguise?”
“No, these are my work clothes. When Dliz called I ran straight here.”
“That’s fine. You’ll blend in, no trouble.” Sidra put on a ballistic vest and covered it with a loose jacket. She checked that she had cuffs, shackles, bench warrant, and badge.
She turned toward Dliz. “Do you have a ballistic vest?”
“I have a carapace; I’m not a squishy.”
“Will your carapace stop a slug from a weapon like this?” Sidra held up a high-powered, 6mm rifle.
“Um, no. I have armor, though.”
“Can you wear it under clothes?”
“Yes, but it’s against the regulations.”
“Screw the rules, wear your armor…under your clothes.” She muttered under her breath, “Damned bureaucracy.”
Sidra turned toward Soolyasin. “I think I have a vest that’ll fit you.”
He looked at Sidra, then Dliz, then back again. “Is it going to be that dangerous?”
Sidra showed them the bench warrant. Soolyasin’s eyes grew wide and Dliz’s eyes rolled in a different way to earlier. Sidra thought she might be able to read bug emotions if this kept up.
“You were going after a turgen terrorist by yourself?” he asked.
“Still am. Just don’t want to see my babysitters get hurt.” She turned to look at Dliz. “Dliz, relax. You don’t have to stand at attention. I need you to tell me which of these weapons you’ll let me carry on the station.”
Dliz settled back down onto six legs and looked over the cabinet Sidra had unlocked. In addition to the rifle, she had pistols, tasers, batons, knives, and a shotgun with less-lethal beanbag loads along with standard loads.
“Which of them are capable of breaching the station hull?”
“The 6-mil, and the shotgun, if I loaded it with steel shot or slugs instead of beanbags.” She didn’t mention that the 10mm pistols were just as likely to do the same damage, but she wasn’t going out without at least one lethal weapon.
“In that case, leave the rifle and lethal shotgun rounds behind. I’ll be carrying a beam weapon, too, so we should be covered.”
“What about me?” Soolyasin asked.
“The only thing I need you to do is stay out of the way. Unless I need some inconspicuous eyes in the bay.”
After fitting Soolyasin with a ballistic vest and Dliz getting into civilian clothes over her armor, much to her dismay, they moved to the main cargo bays where they expected their quarry to show. Sidra positioned them so that she could watch arrivals, Dliz could watch her back, and Soolyasin could stay well out of the way unless and until needed.
The first hour went by at glacial speed, with constant interruptions from Dliz and Soolyasin asking questions or pointing at every passerby that might be a turgen in disguise. The next two hours dragged compared to the first.
It was in the middle of the fourth hour that Sidra got notice that the ship carrying her quarry was docking. She moved them to cover the lock where it pulled in, granting them a view on both the personnel airlock and the cargo airlock.
A much smaller contingent of security met the ship, cleared the crew for the station, and left. Four crewmembers, all turgen, filed off. Larger than humans in bulk, grey skin covered with hard dermal denticles, they had two arms, two legs, the remnants of a dorsal fin, and a long, flat tail with which they could do bone-breaking damage.
Sidra waited. If he was going to sneak off the ship, he’d need to do it soon. When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to get out on his own, she radioed Soolyasin.
“Okay, Sool. It’s clear around the ship. Just carry your tool case and walk onboard like you belong there. You’ve seen his picture, if you see him, run. If there’s anyone else on the ship, just tell them you’re checking the fuel gauges because of some regulation or other.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. You got this, and I’ve got your back.”
Soolyasin walked onto the ship, and they could hear him in their headsets, “Hello? Anyone here? I need to check your fuel gauges. Hello?”
A few quiet moments passed before Soolyasin spoke up again. “There’s no one else here,” he said, “I’m co—” His voice was cut off by the sound of a heavy thud.
Sidra ran for the ship, pulling her shotgun into firing position and cycling a round into the chamber. She stopped at the door of the ship and called inside. “Give it up, Otto. The only way you’re leaving here is in cuffs.”
When she didn’t hear anything else, she moved to clear the corners. She looked right where the door to the cockpit was closed. She swiveled around to check the other side only to find it empty as well. “Dliz, move up and cover the exit. The cargo airlock hasn’t been cycled, so this is the only way off.”
She began to move down the passageway when she heard the cockpit door click behind her. She swung around a delivered a 12-gauge beanbag into Otto’s gut at near point-blank range. Rather than stopping him, it enraged him. He turned and swiped at her with his tail.
Sidra tried to dodge out the way, but he managed to knock the shotgun out of her hands. He picked it up and threw it behind himself into the cockpit, next to the limp form of Soolyasin. “Time to go away, bounty hunter.”
He began to move toward her. When he stepped in front of the open door, he was met with a concentrated beam of infrared energy that forced him to jump back. “Listen, soft-skin. You leave now, and I’ll throw your friend out. It’s your one chance to leave alive.”
She drew her 10mm pistol and pointed it at him. “And if I don’t?”
He started toward her again, then stopped when the beam almost connected. “I’ll start by killing your furry friend, then your trigger-happy friend, then you…but nice and slow. There’s no way you’re taking me to a human prison.”
Sidra couldn’t see Dliz, but from the angle of the last beam, she’d moved to where she had more coverage of the passageway toward the cockpit. She knew that if he wanted, he could ignore the burns and rush her, crushing her carapace in a thousand different ways. Her shotgun was far out of reach, not to mention ineffective, but the 10mm pistol was a comforting weight in her hand.
Otto turned his back on her, his tail swishing wildly, smashing against the bulkheads on each side of the passage. “Very well, then. On to killing your furry friend first.”
“I’m warning you, Otto, these are lethal rounds. Put your hands behind your head, your tail between your legs, and drop to your knees.”
By the time Otto had taken a step, Sidra had taken aim and fired a shot into his torso and another into his thigh. He stopped and turned to look at her, bright pink blood running down his leg and back. He laughed. “You’re going to be so much fun.”
The courts tended to look down on spinal injuries, but when a round in the torso and thigh didn’t slow him down, she didn’t feel like she had much choice. She took aim again and fired at the base of his tail. His tail dropped like a dead weight, and he cried out.
The pain dropped him to his knees. Sidra finished the motion by jumping between his shoulder blades to put him flat on the deck. She cuffed his hands behind his back, and secured his ankles with shackles before motioning Dliz to come in.
“Call for medical for Sool and for the idiot here.”
Dliz made the call and medical teams arrived in less than a minute.
“Damn,” Sidra said, “I guess bureaucracy is good for something after all.”
Soolyasin was awake by the time he was loaded onto a stretcher. There didn’t seem to be any broken bones, but he’d been thrown rather hard by Otto’s tail strike. “Sorry I wasn’t any help,” he said.
“Nonsense. I’m sorry I sent you in there and you got hurt. I’m splitting the bounty three ways, even across with both of you.”
“I can’t take any payment,” Dliz said. “It’s against the regulations for police to have any outside earnings.”
“You saved my bacon, though. If you hadn’t been enough of an inconvenience with the beam, he would’ve tail swiped me before I could draw.”
“Still can’t accept any payments or monetary gifts.”
“How about this? You two have been friends forever, right? I’ll pay your portion to Sool, and he can treat you to fancy dinners for the rest of your life.”
“Wha...how much is the bounty?”
“Three-point-seven million Terran credits. About sixteen million galactic.”
Dliz’s eyes rolled in yet another motion. “Damned bureaucracy.”
Story published here.
2023.06.03 23:30 Specific-Lake4398 I think it has become a matter of when and not if and it’s eating at me
I don’t know what happened or how I finally broke, but I have woken up to the truth that I am profoundly unhappy with my marriage. I never wanted to be here. I swore to myself having been the oldest of 4 when my parents had a very rough divorce, that I would never wind up here and yet here I am.
We are both 35. We have a 3 year old and another on the way in 2 months. I know full well how terrible it looks, to be having a child when the marriage was not in a good place, I am aware and I feel awful over it.
I feel like we’ve grown apart since we were married 7 years ago. To be perfectly honest, the issue started after about a year of us dating, but I was in love and I wanted to give her whatever patience and space that she needed. Her interest in being intimate/affectionate (the whole range from sexual to non-sexual) died slowly, it was as if I was a frog being boiled alive slowly. She has told me several times over the past decade that she appreciates how patient I have been with her over the lack of desire to have sex or be affectionate, but it has worn me down to nothing.
The years of rejection have beaten me down. The crumbs of duty sex and pity affection when I have gotten grumpy from realizing how lonely I am in my marriage (or just from life in general) don’t help. I have repeatedly told her that if she doesn’t want me, then I don’t want her to force herself to go through with it, I’d rather have no sex at all.
It took a few things going sideways in my life all at once for me to go to therapy and start to confront all of the things in my life that have been keeping bottled up. One of those things is the state of my marriage it turns out. I am not going to leave tomorrow, but this marriage is not a marriage, we are roommates (I’ve told her that in the past). I plan to wait until about a year after the new baby arrives to assess everything. She is aware of how I am currently feeling and she is resentful of the fact that I have chosen now to bring this all up, she isn’t wrong and I have apologized for the timing, but I can’t control how I feel about it.
I know that if things don’t change, I will not survive. The lack of affection is killing me slowly, I have brought it up to her time and time again and she cries and she promises to better. She swears we will work on “us,” but then nothing changes. I know I’m not perfect, but I try to be the best husband and father that I can be and yet the things that I don’t do are what I’m always reminded about.
Advice or support, hell even criticism is welcome, but please don’t tell me how bad of a situation it is, I’m living it and I am aware.
submitted by Specific-Lake4398 to Divorce [link] [comments]
We are both 35. We have a 3 year old and another on the way in 2 months. I know full well how terrible it looks, to be having a child when the marriage was not in a good place, I am aware and I feel awful over it.
I feel like we’ve grown apart since we were married 7 years ago. To be perfectly honest, the issue started after about a year of us dating, but I was in love and I wanted to give her whatever patience and space that she needed. Her interest in being intimate/affectionate (the whole range from sexual to non-sexual) died slowly, it was as if I was a frog being boiled alive slowly. She has told me several times over the past decade that she appreciates how patient I have been with her over the lack of desire to have sex or be affectionate, but it has worn me down to nothing.
The years of rejection have beaten me down. The crumbs of duty sex and pity affection when I have gotten grumpy from realizing how lonely I am in my marriage (or just from life in general) don’t help. I have repeatedly told her that if she doesn’t want me, then I don’t want her to force herself to go through with it, I’d rather have no sex at all.
It took a few things going sideways in my life all at once for me to go to therapy and start to confront all of the things in my life that have been keeping bottled up. One of those things is the state of my marriage it turns out. I am not going to leave tomorrow, but this marriage is not a marriage, we are roommates (I’ve told her that in the past). I plan to wait until about a year after the new baby arrives to assess everything. She is aware of how I am currently feeling and she is resentful of the fact that I have chosen now to bring this all up, she isn’t wrong and I have apologized for the timing, but I can’t control how I feel about it.
I know that if things don’t change, I will not survive. The lack of affection is killing me slowly, I have brought it up to her time and time again and she cries and she promises to better. She swears we will work on “us,” but then nothing changes. I know I’m not perfect, but I try to be the best husband and father that I can be and yet the things that I don’t do are what I’m always reminded about.
Advice or support, hell even criticism is welcome, but please don’t tell me how bad of a situation it is, I’m living it and I am aware.
2023.06.03 23:29 CaucasianGyration Tales from Tertium: The Renegade
Inspired by the tale of the sniper, Marisol
Markov couldn't remember the last time he had taken off his respirator.
He'd seen the faces of the others - decrepit, rotting, sloughing. Their rotten skin peeling off to reveal the oozing muscle below, their appearance matching the rot beneath. The Grandfather's so-called 'blessing' in action. The Admonition - the cults - called it a sign. A sign that they were His chosen. That this campaign (or crusade, as they called it) had His blessing.
He called it horrifying.
A few others agreed with him, other souls who still had some sanity left to recognize what they were becoming. Most of them deserted, disappearing into the hive's depths. A few of them were shot - he should know, he was on the firing line for most of them. Those who remained were silent like him, keeping their thoughts to themselves. The Moebian 6th was all they had left, and the blessings of the plague father were keeping them alive.
Some of his squad had taken off their gear to eat. One of them took off their jaw when they undid the latches of the respirator. Got some laughter, that did. Sergeant patted their shoulder too roughly, twisted her hand in a bad way. She chuckled and snapped it back into place with a 'pop'.
Markov couldn't remember the last time he had taken off any of his gear. It was better this way. Couldn't see the rot beneath if he kept his uniform on. Couldn't see the disease take hold of him. Couldn't realize that he was lost and damned from Terra's light for good.
He was on patrol. The orders blurred together. Scout here, defend here. They were all over Tertium, across every wretched square meter of that damned place. He never remembered the names, it all looked the same to him. Grand, high gothic architecture combined with the slums the average denizen of the city squatted in. It was disgusting. Some days he hated the city more than his rotting comrades. Both were infested with disease, rot rooted all the way into their slimy cores. There was companionship here, once. He even called Atoma a home, long before.
He looked around him as he walked along the flickering hallways of the hab. The boots of his squadmates stomped against the metal floor, the humming of the sergeant's volley gun, the grinding of machinery deep below; joining in the cacophony of background noise in the massive, unknowable hive. One of his squadmates choked something up and spit it into their respirator.
Then the tension of hearing las-fire and shouting in the distance.
"Movement detected. Moving to intercept." The sergeant rattled off the report into her micro-bead as she raised her hand in the air, gesturing the squad to follow. Markov checked the sights on his lasgun one last time before double-timing it towards the noise. They ducked through a doorway.
The squaddie to his left was immediately taken down with a crack of las-fire. He fell limp, crouched over with a burnt hole through his helmet.
"Down! Get down, take cover! Engagement protocol Kappa-Two-Taurox!"
They had joined in with some of their skirmisher infantry. Markov and a few others dashed behind a barricade as the sergeant warmed up her volleygun. He grunted as slug and las alike rained above his head, and...
And a grenade box?
Markov barely registered the strange object flying overhead until it landed right between the sergeant's eyes, cracking her visor and denting the goggles into her face. She crumpled to the ground, the plague father's gifts oozing from the broken helmet.
"Gunner down! Can't get a shot!"
The others hunkered down. With their heavy support and lead down, the enemy was free to fire on their position. Kneeling down, Markov leaned out to get a sightline - before taking a las to his left eye, burning a hole through his goggles.He yelled in pain, a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time, as dulled as it was. He lingered on the floor as another las hit right next to his head. He crawled to another barricade as the rest of his squads took his injury as a chance to open fire.
Breathing heavily, Markov felt around the wound. He was barely bleeding, no - he felt something else dripping from the wound. Liquified flesh, and likely whatever remained of his retina.
With a hand covering his mask, he looked back at his squad, now engaged in melee with an Ogryn. The brutish mass was tossing them around like the were toys, the jagged knife in his meaty fists cleanly bisecting one of his squad. Markov looked at the bayonet attached to his barrel. It was rusted despite barely seeing use. Something that made him feel slightly more secure in close quarters. He stood, leveling the bayonet towards the Ogyn's spine. Maybe if he got a lucky hit - maybe if he dug it deep enough - maybe -
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Markov yelled, in a voice he had forgotten. "For the 6th!" Did he really believe it? Was he really going to risk his life for a squad he loathed? The questions swirled in his mind as he charged the Ogyrn, whose attention was still on one last renegade. The short distance seemed so long. Every step, he was reminded of the man he once was. The people the 6th once were - before the darktide, before all this. He was a hive ganger, but conscription shaped him up. Before he left, he found someone. He never thought he would find love, but being free of the undercity made him a new man. He promised them he'd return, after he was a hero. He promised they'd come back with stories of grandeur and of victory. He wondered where they were now - dead, most likely. Gone with the rest of the hive, or still hiding somewhere. Maybe he'd find them, search for them through ever Emperor-forsaken level of the city once he left the damned Moebian 6th behind. He wouldn't turn back again. Not this time.
He dug the steel into the Ogryn's back, thrusting it forward with every ounce of strength he had. It dug into the beast's flesh, a trickle of blood coming out of the wound. The Ogryn didn't even seem to register it, and finished mutilating Marie, killing her with a single swipe of his savage knife.
Then it turned around. He readied his bayonet for another thrust.
And then Markov died.
submitted by CaucasianGyration to DarkTide [link] [comments]
Markov couldn't remember the last time he had taken off his respirator.
He'd seen the faces of the others - decrepit, rotting, sloughing. Their rotten skin peeling off to reveal the oozing muscle below, their appearance matching the rot beneath. The Grandfather's so-called 'blessing' in action. The Admonition - the cults - called it a sign. A sign that they were His chosen. That this campaign (or crusade, as they called it) had His blessing.
He called it horrifying.
A few others agreed with him, other souls who still had some sanity left to recognize what they were becoming. Most of them deserted, disappearing into the hive's depths. A few of them were shot - he should know, he was on the firing line for most of them. Those who remained were silent like him, keeping their thoughts to themselves. The Moebian 6th was all they had left, and the blessings of the plague father were keeping them alive.
Some of his squad had taken off their gear to eat. One of them took off their jaw when they undid the latches of the respirator. Got some laughter, that did. Sergeant patted their shoulder too roughly, twisted her hand in a bad way. She chuckled and snapped it back into place with a 'pop'.
Markov couldn't remember the last time he had taken off any of his gear. It was better this way. Couldn't see the rot beneath if he kept his uniform on. Couldn't see the disease take hold of him. Couldn't realize that he was lost and damned from Terra's light for good.
He was on patrol. The orders blurred together. Scout here, defend here. They were all over Tertium, across every wretched square meter of that damned place. He never remembered the names, it all looked the same to him. Grand, high gothic architecture combined with the slums the average denizen of the city squatted in. It was disgusting. Some days he hated the city more than his rotting comrades. Both were infested with disease, rot rooted all the way into their slimy cores. There was companionship here, once. He even called Atoma a home, long before.
He looked around him as he walked along the flickering hallways of the hab. The boots of his squadmates stomped against the metal floor, the humming of the sergeant's volley gun, the grinding of machinery deep below; joining in the cacophony of background noise in the massive, unknowable hive. One of his squadmates choked something up and spit it into their respirator.
Then the tension of hearing las-fire and shouting in the distance.
"Movement detected. Moving to intercept." The sergeant rattled off the report into her micro-bead as she raised her hand in the air, gesturing the squad to follow. Markov checked the sights on his lasgun one last time before double-timing it towards the noise. They ducked through a doorway.
The squaddie to his left was immediately taken down with a crack of las-fire. He fell limp, crouched over with a burnt hole through his helmet.
"Down! Get down, take cover! Engagement protocol Kappa-Two-Taurox!"
They had joined in with some of their skirmisher infantry. Markov and a few others dashed behind a barricade as the sergeant warmed up her volleygun. He grunted as slug and las alike rained above his head, and...
And a grenade box?
Markov barely registered the strange object flying overhead until it landed right between the sergeant's eyes, cracking her visor and denting the goggles into her face. She crumpled to the ground, the plague father's gifts oozing from the broken helmet.
"Gunner down! Can't get a shot!"
The others hunkered down. With their heavy support and lead down, the enemy was free to fire on their position. Kneeling down, Markov leaned out to get a sightline - before taking a las to his left eye, burning a hole through his goggles.He yelled in pain, a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time, as dulled as it was. He lingered on the floor as another las hit right next to his head. He crawled to another barricade as the rest of his squads took his injury as a chance to open fire.
Breathing heavily, Markov felt around the wound. He was barely bleeding, no - he felt something else dripping from the wound. Liquified flesh, and likely whatever remained of his retina.
With a hand covering his mask, he looked back at his squad, now engaged in melee with an Ogryn. The brutish mass was tossing them around like the were toys, the jagged knife in his meaty fists cleanly bisecting one of his squad. Markov looked at the bayonet attached to his barrel. It was rusted despite barely seeing use. Something that made him feel slightly more secure in close quarters. He stood, leveling the bayonet towards the Ogyn's spine. Maybe if he got a lucky hit - maybe if he dug it deep enough - maybe -
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Markov yelled, in a voice he had forgotten. "For the 6th!" Did he really believe it? Was he really going to risk his life for a squad he loathed? The questions swirled in his mind as he charged the Ogyrn, whose attention was still on one last renegade. The short distance seemed so long. Every step, he was reminded of the man he once was. The people the 6th once were - before the darktide, before all this. He was a hive ganger, but conscription shaped him up. Before he left, he found someone. He never thought he would find love, but being free of the undercity made him a new man. He promised them he'd return, after he was a hero. He promised they'd come back with stories of grandeur and of victory. He wondered where they were now - dead, most likely. Gone with the rest of the hive, or still hiding somewhere. Maybe he'd find them, search for them through ever Emperor-forsaken level of the city once he left the damned Moebian 6th behind. He wouldn't turn back again. Not this time.
He dug the steel into the Ogryn's back, thrusting it forward with every ounce of strength he had. It dug into the beast's flesh, a trickle of blood coming out of the wound. The Ogryn didn't even seem to register it, and finished mutilating Marie, killing her with a single swipe of his savage knife.
Then it turned around. He readied his bayonet for another thrust.
And then Markov died.
2023.06.03 23:27 EbonyBetty Seeking Advice + Rant: Having ADHD and Dealing with Black Hair
Even though I tagged this as "Vent" the primary reason for this post is that I'm desperate for advice, but because I had a bit of a breakdown today, the rant comes first (there's a TL;DAsking for Advice at the bottom). I also want to preface that I'm only looking for advice from fellow ADHD Black women, y'all will know what I mean. Out of sadness and frustration, I almost impulsively gave myself "The Big Chop" that knew I would regret.
The upkeep for my hair is so damn exhausting that if I'm being honest with myself, I really hate my hair. My biggest issue is I am "blessed" with a lot of it, that 4a "good hair." Growing up most of the compliments on my appearance were about my hair: "Baby your hair comes from good genes!"/"Your hair is so long and pretty, gimme some!"/"Brothas love a Sista with long hair, even better that it's natural!" And I will admit, when my hair's fresh from the hairdresser, I look really nice. When my hair is done, it's one of the few physical features I like about myself. We all know the cultural weight of hair in the Black community.
Y'all also know Black hair's upkeep without ADHD is extensive, expensive, and exhausting, so with ADHD it's fucking impossible. Washing, Conditioning, Brushing, Combing-it-out, Flat-Ironing, Oiling, Greasing down the Edges, IT'S ALL TOO FUCKING MUCH! As an adult, I came to peace with myself early on that I would always pay the "ADHD Tax" of having to get my hair done at hairdressers. Payment for the salon is on par with the electric bill...
Until this month. As I was doing my budgeting for June, my rent's gone up 22% and with inflation continuing to hit hard means I cannot afford to get my hair done this month. So I tried to do it myself. I was already emotionally drained after washing and conditioning my hair, now I had to start the worst part - combing it out. Because of my ADHD, as embarrassed as I am to say it, I don't brush out my hair every night. When I get to the tail end of the month, I usually throw on a head scarf and keep moving, which leads to matted hair and tangles (plus I'm tender-headed, God has a sick sense of humor). Just parting my hair into four sections, I could feel my panic setting it. Every tangle I tugged at, my brain played every memory of my mama or aunt's telling me how lazy I am for not taking care of my hair and that I'm gonna end up bald. An hour and half later, I only have one section done. My head hurts and I'm so frustrated and ashamed. I grabbed my roommate's wig scissors and cut off the current tangle I'm on. IMMEDIATELY, I audibly said, "WTF am I doing!" then burst into tears.
I swallowed my pride and called my mom (our relationship is strained, at best) and asked if she could comb my hair out for me. While she accepted it, of course, it came with the usual chiding: "Most girls take of their hair, why don't you?"/"Your hair is your best feature, you need to learn how self-care."/"You're a grown women, I knew how to take care of my hair at your age." I feel so defeated and today's been the fucking worst.
TL;DAsking for Advice: So please, do you have any tutorials, hairstyle suggestions, or upkeep tips I can use for my hair that's easy-to-learn or ADHD-friendly. Or at least advice on how you're able to not get overwhelmed during upkeep? My biggest hurdles are combing out my hair and parting/oiling it (my scalp dries out very easily). Please no hairstyles that require braiding or flat-ironing. My hair is 3\4 natural with a quarter of relaxer left. Please do not suggest I cut my hair to a shorter length, it's not I oppose it, but it's complicated.
submitted by EbonyBetty to adhdwomen [link] [comments]
The upkeep for my hair is so damn exhausting that if I'm being honest with myself, I really hate my hair. My biggest issue is I am "blessed" with a lot of it, that 4a "good hair." Growing up most of the compliments on my appearance were about my hair: "Baby your hair comes from good genes!"/"Your hair is so long and pretty, gimme some!"/"Brothas love a Sista with long hair, even better that it's natural!" And I will admit, when my hair's fresh from the hairdresser, I look really nice. When my hair is done, it's one of the few physical features I like about myself. We all know the cultural weight of hair in the Black community.
Y'all also know Black hair's upkeep without ADHD is extensive, expensive, and exhausting, so with ADHD it's fucking impossible. Washing, Conditioning, Brushing, Combing-it-out, Flat-Ironing, Oiling, Greasing down the Edges, IT'S ALL TOO FUCKING MUCH! As an adult, I came to peace with myself early on that I would always pay the "ADHD Tax" of having to get my hair done at hairdressers. Payment for the salon is on par with the electric bill...
Until this month. As I was doing my budgeting for June, my rent's gone up 22% and with inflation continuing to hit hard means I cannot afford to get my hair done this month. So I tried to do it myself. I was already emotionally drained after washing and conditioning my hair, now I had to start the worst part - combing it out. Because of my ADHD, as embarrassed as I am to say it, I don't brush out my hair every night. When I get to the tail end of the month, I usually throw on a head scarf and keep moving, which leads to matted hair and tangles (plus I'm tender-headed, God has a sick sense of humor). Just parting my hair into four sections, I could feel my panic setting it. Every tangle I tugged at, my brain played every memory of my mama or aunt's telling me how lazy I am for not taking care of my hair and that I'm gonna end up bald. An hour and half later, I only have one section done. My head hurts and I'm so frustrated and ashamed. I grabbed my roommate's wig scissors and cut off the current tangle I'm on. IMMEDIATELY, I audibly said, "WTF am I doing!" then burst into tears.
I swallowed my pride and called my mom (our relationship is strained, at best) and asked if she could comb my hair out for me. While she accepted it, of course, it came with the usual chiding: "Most girls take of their hair, why don't you?"/"Your hair is your best feature, you need to learn how self-care."/"You're a grown women, I knew how to take care of my hair at your age." I feel so defeated and today's been the fucking worst.
TL;DAsking for Advice: So please, do you have any tutorials, hairstyle suggestions, or upkeep tips I can use for my hair that's easy-to-learn or ADHD-friendly. Or at least advice on how you're able to not get overwhelmed during upkeep? My biggest hurdles are combing out my hair and parting/oiling it (my scalp dries out very easily). Please no hairstyles that require braiding or flat-ironing. My hair is 3\4 natural with a quarter of relaxer left. Please do not suggest I cut my hair to a shorter length, it's not I oppose it, but it's complicated.